
For P Marimuthu, July 30, 2025 was supposed to mark the end of a long episode of harassment by the Tamil Nadu Forest Department. A day ago, the 48-year-old tribal man had been acquitted by an Udumalpet court in a ganja case—one that activists say he was falsely accused in. The continuous harassment he had faced in connection with the case had made him shift residence to Suryanelli in Kerala from his home at the Mel Kurumalai settlement in Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu.