CHENNAI: Punishments handed out by village panchayat leaders may be the stuff that Tamil movie legends are made of, but the age-old practice of a fishing hamlet near Pulicat lake ensures that offences end with ‘high-spirited’ results. Rather aptly titled ‘Quarter Panchayat’ or ‘Sarakku Panchayat’, fishermen belonging to 16 villages of the Light House area in Pazhaverkadu, have always had to pay for any offences that they have committed by buying alcohol (quarter bottles) equivalent to the fine amount and distributing it to each family in the village. According to Sekaran*, a local who has worked with the district administration, “Right from petty squabbles to killing a person, all offences are dealt with within the village’s panchayat. The entire village gathers to hear the amount of fine levied by the elders and then the trip to the wine shop begins.”Raja*, a villager whose ancestors hailed from Thirumalai Nagar, one of the villages here, said that for over three centuries, when an offence is committed life in the village comes to a standstill. “The announcement goes around that the Panchayat will gather at the Temple after which no one in the village will go out to sea or work on that day,” he says and explains that the fine amounts can vary from anywhere between Rs 10,000 to a lakh depending on the “severity of the offence”. He cites an example of how starting a fight with a fisherman from a neighbouring village can get you a fine of Rs 20,000 depending on how much “the fight escalates into a village war”. Once the amount is settled, the alcohol is procured by the offendor and his family. The distribution system is also unique, adds Sekaran, “Only the male elder who has been recognised in the ‘Thalakattu’ list as having had an ancestor in the village is entitled to a bottle of booze.* Names have been changed
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