Parvathi Menon, a visiting lecturer at the journalism school last year, was recently named associate editor of The Hindu, now the second largest circulating English-language daily in India. In December Menon wrote a front page piece for The Hindu on one of the thorniest social issues facing the country:

“What can one man do? They have given all the witnesses money,” said M. Venkatrayappa, whose wife Ramakka, sons Sriramappa and Anjaneya and daughter Papamma were among the eight Dalits who were burnt to death in Kambalapalli village in Kolar district in March 2000. He was the first prosecution witness among the 40 who turned hostile during the court hearings on the case, leading to the acquittal of all the 32 accused.

“I changed my version in court to save my children and because the wives of the accused begged me to help get their menfolk acquitted,” S. Gangulappa, second prosecution witness, told The Hindu.

Kolar district has had a history of caste conflicts that led six years ago to the killing of eight Dalits of a family in a case of caste revenge in Kambalapalli, believed to have been in retaliation to the murder of Krishnappa Reddy, a village functionary belonging to the “upper castes.”

Menon is also Bangalore bureau chief for Frontline, the highly respected weekly magazine published by The Hindu. Read the original article here.