Kerala farmer kills himself over ‘harassment’ by tax officials

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Fed up with alleged harassment meted out by village officials, a farmer committed suicide in front of the village office in Kozhikode district on Wednesday night.

The body of KJ Thomas, 57, alias Joy was found hanging in front of the village office. A suicide note recovered blamed officials for the death.

Joy’s relatives said officials refused to accept land tax from him citing various excuses and forced him to make many rounds.

Tension gripped Chakittapara village after angry residents prevented police from removing the body. Later, district collector UV Jose rushed to the village and suspended the village assistant P Sireesh and promised action against others. He also directed the officials to accept the tax immediately.

Family members said village officials had been harassing Joy for quite some time saying his registration papers were missing from the revenue records.

Last year, the family had to stage a dharna outside the office and tax was accepted after the intervention of higher officials. They alleged that officials had sought a heavy bribe from him for correcting the anomaly in revenue records.

A couple of days ago, Joy had threatened to commit suicide if the officials continued to harass him, but they ignored him.

Joy is survived by his wife and three children.

State revenue minister E Chandrasekharan has sought a report from the district collector. “The sad incident should have been averted. We will not leave officials responsible for this,” he said.

Opposition Congress and BJP called a shutdown in the area.

Last year in Thiruvananthapuram, a rubber tapper had set fire to a village office after officials delayed title deed of his land for almost eight years.

JOY’S RELATIVES SAID OFFICIALS REFUSED TO ACCEPT LAND TAX FROM HIM CITING VARIOUS EXCUSES AND FORCED HIM TO MAKE SEVERAL ROUNDS