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| Thalaikoonthal –
Merciless Mercy Killing
in Tamil Nadu |
Reji Joseph
In the southern districts of Tamilnadu, such as Virudhunagar, Madurai, Theni, Thuthukkudi
and Thirunelveli, mercy killing has for long been carried out in the guise of a practice known as
‘Thalaikoonthal.’ The pitiful victims of this ruthless mercy killing are mostly aged parents. When they
become bedridden due to age and diseases, they are considered a liability to their families and
children. It is such people who fall victim to the verdict of this crude death punishment. Ironically, this
murderous practice has been going on for a long time with the full consent of and at the convenience
of the families and relatives of such victims.
The typical method adopted for this type of merciless mercy killing is to smear gingerly oil
over the head and entire body of the concerned aged person, who would be laid up with serious
illness, as the first step. This is done at night time, confining the patient to bed. Following this, the
blood pressure of the patient becomes very low, which soon gets combined with severe fever and
shivering. From dawn onwards, the patient will be given cold tender coconut water, which, when
reaching the stomach, tends to aggravate the fever and soon results in death. Since this crude method
of mercy killing is widely practiced in many of the villages of Virudhunagar, Thirunelveli and Theni
districts, ‘Thalaikoonthal’ hardly tends to be news in the region.
Some people add poison and liquor to the tender coconut water. By this death will be
aggravated and occur within three hours. Another practice adopted is the injecting of deadly poison
to perform the murder, which has for long been a typical practice in the interior villages of Tamil
Nadu. Temporarily appointed nurses in hospitals as well as midwives who attend to child births
generally come ready to perform this deed, which provides them some additional income.
“Soon after laying the patient on a bed with oil smeared all over the body and on consuming
tender coconut water, the functioning of kidneys of the patient gets upset. By acute fever, combined
with epileptic symptoms, death occurs. There are many hired killers in the villages, who, when
contacted, perform the mercy killing within the prescribed time asked for.” This is what Pal Raj,
Chairman of Elders Welfare Association of Virudhunagar District told Rashtra Deepika. Elders
Welfare Association is an organization which has been trying to put an end to ‘Thalaikoontal’ and
bring the culprits performing it before the law.
When you walk across the interior villages of Virudhunagar, you see many graves on the
way. These are primarily graves of aged parents killed in the above manner and conveniently disposed
off. The people here have no feeling of guilt in murdering their aged parents, once they became a
liability to their homes. Those murderers who have for long been heartlessly committing Thalaikoonthal
too, don’t have any guilty feelings either.
R Elangov, Secretary of Help Age India Elders Foundation, an organization looking after
the welfare of aged people, says that this cruel and shameful mode of killing is still widely prevalent.
He narrated thus : ”It is often after torturing the aged people by refusing them proper food and water
for weeks together and thus virtually killing them bodily, that the Thalaikoonthal method of killing is
administered upon them. While hired murderers carry out the assigned Thalaikoonthal, the children
and kindred of the victim anxiously wait outside for hours together, eagerly waiting to hear the death
of the aged person.”
Another method of mercy killing sometimes applied is to kill the aged person by pouring
dirty water mixed with soil and dirt into the person’s mouth forcibly. Since this cannot be digested,
death occurs within a few days. The villagers believe that if the soil from their own land is mixed in
water and ‘fed’ to the aged parents, their souls will achieve heavenly peace.
If the oil application over the body or forcibly feeding soil mixed water fails to show results,
another method practiced for mercy killing is ‘milk treatment’. The nostrils of the aged person are
tightly pressed so as to close them and then two glasses of milk are poured into the mouth continuously.
When the lungs get filled with milk, the person is unable to breathe, suffocates and dies within a
minute. It may be noted this step is also undertaken after starving the person. Death occurs by the
rupturing of blood vessels of the head, as a result of failure to get breath. The profuse bleeding from
the mouth and nostrils of the victims that occurs then is not considered a heart breaking event by
their relatives. The aged persons who may be unconscious or in severe hardship cannot hold their
breath for more than a few seconds.
Pal Raj, who speaks openly against these kinds of rituals, says: ‘ This so-called mercy killing
is openly performed with the consent and awareness of the children and kindred of the victim. There
are instances where the aged persons themselves ask for mercy killing, once they become convinced
that there is no one to look after them. On the other hand, instances of parents fleeing away on
getting hints that their children are planning to dispose of them by ‘mercy killing’ are also not rare.
Killing of parents in this manner for seizing their assets and money by their children is now considered
a commonly accepted practice.
R, Elankov, Director of Virudhunagar Elders Foundation narrated thus: ‘For making an old
aged person a victim of mercy killing, 250 ml. of gingerly oil is more than sufficient. The gingerly oil
is either applied over the entire body of the aged person who would normally be bedridden or that
much oil is poured into his/her mouth. Thereafter, water from 3 or 4 tender coconuts is forcibly fed
into the mouth without break. Within hours, fever and pneumonia precipitate and death is sure within
one or two days.
In Paramkudy and Ramaswamipuram, there are
many mediators who are ready to perform mercy killing by
giving poison-filled injections. The temporary staff of primary
health centers along with a relative performs this for rates
ranging from Rs.300 to Rs.3000. The feeling of those
executioners who commit this murder is that there is no
wrong at all in doing this upon a person on the verge of
death.
In Aruppukottai village, the police booked a
case against the children of a Thalaikoonthal victim and
arrested them. But the police failed to proceed in the
case for lack of proper supporting evidence. Once a
Thalaikoonthal is performed, the dead body is
buried within a few hours, completing all customs
and rituals regarding it. Since these rituals are
performed publicly, with the cooperation of every
one there, an enquiry on the matter, even if
undertaken, would be fruitless. In most villages
these rituals are undertaken after due intimation to
close relatives. The entire process will be carried
out in a hurry in the presence of relatives, completing
all necessary rituals. The kindred of the dead person
will cover the dead body with new clothes as a
custom.
Even though mercy killing tantamount to
murder, it is treated as a typical ritual, so that the
children and relatives of the dead person may
cry aloud in front of the dead body. After burying
the dead body, typically on a Sunday morning,
the relatives disperse. It is for the convenience
of relatives, who are often labourers, that this
mercy killing is generally done on Saturdays
and burials undertaken on Sundays. Poor
people bury their dead in the vicinity of their own
houses. But rich people carry the dead body in a
chariot in a sitting position, attended with playing of
musical instruments and go on as a funeral procession
to the cemetery and bury the body there.
It is the social environment of families in
Tamilnadu that paves way for mercy killing.
Thalaikoonthal is a custom that has prevailed in Tamilnadu
for generations. Since the children and relatives have no
complaint about it, it continues as a typical ritual, acceptable
to all concerned. Soon after marriage, new
couples will put up a separate dwelling of their
own. In most of the communities, there is no
obligation to look after parents. Hence the
aged parents have to sustain themselves by seeking their own means of living.
When the parents get older, their health deteriorates and most of them become disease
stricken, the care of elders is not considered as a responsibility of the state government. The free
treatment of patients in government hospital is at a very low level. In Tamilnadu, rescue shelters and
schemes for the upliftment of elders are also few in number. Under such circumstances, when the
elders get bedridden and become very weak or unconscious, Thalaikoonthal is in due course,
aadministered on them.
Palraj testifies that Thalaikoonthal is performed at the convenience of the relatives and villagers.
Close relatives will pay a courtesy visit to the victim on the preceding day, decided for mercy killing.
The concerned aged old men and women who would be living in acute distress and poverty get
convinced that it is better for their souls to reach heaven by Thalaikoonthal rather than by dying in
poverty. Those who are now subjected to this type of death might also have killed their own parents
though mercy killing, years earlier.
Aged men often fall prey to mercy killing. Due to the decline of health, these old people have
no income to thrive. Once they are bedridden due to illness, they become destitute. Those who
abandon their native places or die by starvation due to the lack of support by their children are
many. Thalaikoonthal has no discrimination in it on the basis of race or community. It is among the
poor people that this practice of mercy killing is prevalent. Among those who live as nomads,
engaging in sheep rearing or subsistence agricultural operations, this ritual is widespread. When
these nomads shift from place to place, they find it very difficult to attend to their aged parents and
the children are then inclined to give them the death punishment. This is what was said by Chandra
Devi, officer of Virudhunagar Welfare Department.
These people, devoid of medicines or treatment, get bedridden for long periods and are
killed with the consent of other inmates of their house. Aged women have a better chance for earning
some money for their living. By doing kitchen work or engaging in petty works, they earn at least a
meager income. They can somehow pull on in life. But once these aged women are bed ridden, they
also become victims of Thalaikoothal. The facilities and conveniences for looking after elderly people
in Tamilnadu too, is limited. It is a common sight to see aged people resorting to begging on the
streets of Tamilnadu, as they are unable to find any other means of income to survive.
The conditions of aged people in Tamilnadu remains very pitiable. The cities and villages are
filled with aged people wandering about for lack of proper clothes or dwelling places. Those who
fall dead on the sides of streets due to illness and starvation are not few in number. R Elangov said
that the situation prevailing in villages is such that there are none to care for aged people. The
practice of Thalaikoothal( crude mercy killing) continues unabated in Tamilnadu and remains a curse
and ill fate of destitute classes. This massacre is still considered as a ritual in villages little known to
the outside world.
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