'Fear For Safety of My Family', Says Tamil Author Murugesan Amid Row Over Book

A court in Tamil Nadu's Karur District on Friday granted anticipatory bail to Tamil author 'Puliyur' Murugesan, who has come under attack from the Kongu community for the contents of his first book. The author has said he fears for the safety of his family. He now becomes the second author after Perumal Murugan to face the ire of Kongu activists in a matter of months.

The row has broken out over Mr Murugesan's book, 'Balakumaran Endra Peyarum Enakku Undu' (Balakumaran Is My Other Name), a collection of short stories. One of the short stories deals with an incestuous relationship between a man and his daughter-in-law, taking advantage of his son's effeminate nature.

The Kongu community, dominant in Mr Murugesan's hometown of Karur, had taken exception to this story, alleging that it portrayed their community in poor light.

However, Mr Murugesan has said his story was a work of fiction and that it is meant to underline the sexual exploitation of transgenders. "I was willing to apologise, but they attacked me. Superficially, it may look obscene. But if you read it in the transgenders' perspective, you'd appreciate  it," said Mr Murugesan, who has alleged that he had been abducted and roughed up by those opposing his book.

"If they clash with me ideologically, in a democratic way, I can face it. It would be healthy. But we live in fear here, and its unsafe for me and my wife and children," he said.

Mr Murugesan is now in hospital, under police protection. Police have also denied access to the media, claiming that his comments could trigger communal clashes. As part of the conditions for his anticipatory bail, he has been has asked him to sign every day at local Tuticorin court.

In January, noted Tamil novelist Perumal Murugan had quit writing and withdrawn all his books from publication, after a protracted face off with Kongu activists. His book, 'Madorubagan', had dealt with an ancient Tamil tradition of childless women allowed to have sex out of wedlock in the hope of bearing a child. Mr Murugan and his wife, fearing further trouble in the their hometown of Namakkal, had shifted to Chennai.