Vanitha, mother of a 17-year-old protestor who was gunned down by the Tamil Nadu police during the Thoothukudi anti-sterlite protest, joined actor-turned-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) on Monday, November 11, hoping that justice will prevail for her child. Vanitha is among the 300 others who registered as TVK’s party cadres in the district. She told TNM that she has lost hope in both Dravidian parties that have been ruling the state and expressed disappointment with Chief Minister Stalin’s government for inaction action against the senior police officials responsible for the death of 14 protestors, including her daughter Snowlin.

Snowlin marched in protest towards the Thoothukudi Collectorate on May 22, 2018, against Vedanta’s Sterlite copper smelter, with thousands of others. “It has been six years now and I have submitted many petitions to the CM to no avail. I don’t want anyone to go through what my family and I went through, and for that, a change is necessary,” Vanitha said, adding that when MK Stalin was the Opposition leader, he promised immediate action if he became CM. 

At the time of her daughter’s death, actor Vijay, who wasn’t in politics, had visited Vanitha, she recalled. “He had even apologised for having come home at 11:50 pm. He stood for me and now, I have decided to stand by him. I had also participated in TVK’s party conference in October,” Vanitha told TNM. 

The Thoothukudi police firing was probed by the Justice Aruna Jagadeesan Commission, whose report described it as an unprovoked “extrajudicial adventure” and a “demonstrable failure to organise police personnel properly.” The Commission found excess on the part of the police and initiated departmental and criminal action against 17 police officers. Departmental and criminal action was also recommended against the then Thoothukudi district Collector and revenue officials. However, as of 2023, the Tamil Nadu government told the court that only four low-ranking police officers were suspended and that no action had been initiated against the IPS officers.