Home | Biodata | Biography | Photo Gallery | Publications | Tributes [Back to Surveys List] Political - Socio - Economic-Surveys

Are there people in Tamil Nadu who support the barbaric act of blinding criminals? Are there people who feel that criminals must be killed before they are given a fair trial? What kind of people are they? Has education any sobering influence on such barbaric notions? Is there any difference between the rich and the poor, between men and women in this regard? Are there some pockets in Tamil Nadu where people have strong opinions on this matter? Answers to these questions were found by students who conducted the survey.

Each respondent was presented with the statement, 'It is quite all right if murderers and dacoits are captured and killed before they are tried by a magistrate' and was asked to 'agree', 'disagree' or make 'no comments' about the statement. Nineteen per cent agreed with the statement, seventy-six disagreed and five per cent had no comments to make. There is some variation in this proportion between different districts. For example, in North Arcot and Thanjavur districts about fifteen per cent agree with the statement. However Dharmapuri district stands alone where an unbelievably high proportion of fifty-eight per cent agree with the statement. The conditions of security to life and property must have deteriorated so badly that the common man asks for summary punishment. There is nothing to indicate that the Dharmapuri man has lost a general sense of justice. For only fifteen per cent of the respondents from Dharmapuri district agreed with the statement. 'It is all right if a few innocent people are wrongly suspected to be criminals and severely punished by mistake by the people instead of taking them to the courts for trial'.

Each respondent was asked to agree with, disagree with or make no comments on the statement 'it is quite all right if criminals were blinded'. Twelve per cent agreed with the statement and eighty-three per cent disagreed. Who are these people, a small minority though they may be, who agree that criminals may be inflicted this barbaric punishment? There is no distinction between the land owning, cultivating class and the landless labourer class. In each of those groups fourteen per cent support blinding of criminals. There is also not much difference between them and the traders and craftsmen. In only one occupational group the percentage is as low as seven per cent. It is the group consisting of teachers, doctors and lawyers. Whatever level, education by itself does not have sufficient impact on this matter. Among the illiterates about fifteen per cent agree with this form of punishment, among the literates twelve per cent agree and among the college-educated ten per cent do. In other words compared to the average value of twelve per cent for the entire adult population, the college educated have only a slightly lower value of ten per cent whereas one would expect every well-educated person to condemn all barbaric practices. Compared to men, fewer women agree with the act of blinding criminals.

One would expect city dwellers to have more enlightened views on such matters but eighteen per cent of the respondents from Madras city supported the practice of blinding compared to only eight per cent from large towns and nine per cent from small hamlets.

Respondents were also presented with the statement,'People are born in a low position because of their misdeeds in their previous birth'. Forty-five per cent agreed with the statement, another forty-five per cent disagreed and ten per cent said 'can't say'.

About eighty students from the B.Sc. and M.Sc. classes took part in the survey and interviewed about 1900 representative adults selected from the whole of Tamil Nadu.