A couple of decades ago, have seen people impersonate and write examinations [especially Arrears] for their friends .. .. .. a classmate of mine once sold his Typewriting (lower) Original for a pittance to another friend [having the same name] – that person somehow could not pass TW and after a few failed attempts, bought the Certificate of his namesake, submitted the original and got a job – the lender had by that time passed Higher in style and did not require the lower certificate. !!
Remember the blockbuster ‘ 3 Idiots / Nanban / Snehithudu’, a film that distinctively featured inventions ingenuously made. When the two friends try finding out the other colleague who was so innovative in their college, comes the turn that a rich Estate owner had in fact utilized their servant to study in guise and his son taking the credits. Impersonations are oft repeated in tinseldom. Aiyampettai Arivudainambi Kaliyaperumal Chandran does exhibit his comic skills in that interview before Sriramachandramurthy in his import-export company, and then fools him by impersonating that he has a twin brother. That was hilarious ‘Thillu Mullu’ – the Rajnikant starrer, directed by K Balachander.
Another Rajnikant blockbuster ‘Billa’ – storyline featuring a mafia don, who gets fatally wounded in an encounter too had impersonation. The police plant a decoy, a villager impersonating the don and providing vital clues ~ [though the film ran for many days, I always feel, that naming of the movie after a cruel criminal was in bad taste]. Well this is no cinema review – but an interesting story of impersonation in Sports.
Sometime back, Indian Express, Chennai edition reported that – after 20 years of legal battle to claim her right to employment which was fraudulently taken away by an impersonator, R Parvathi finally got justice. Parvathi, who had registered with the employment exchange at Thudiyalur in Coimbatore, was called for an interview for a vacancy of Class IV employee in Pollachi. After attending the interview, Pravathi thought she had not been selected and went to the exchange to renew her employment card. However, officials said that she had already been appointed in the Pollachi Commissioner’s office. Smelling something fishy, she found out that Pollachi councillor’s wife has impersonated her and got the job which was due to her. Parvathi began knocking at the doors of justice in 1996 by filing original application. It was only in 2009 that Parvathi’s application was taken as writ petition and the Madras High Court ruled in her favour after finding that the impersonator, who goes by the name Parvathi, changed her father’s name to get the job which was due to the other Parvathi. It took 23 years and two judicial orders for state agencies and the Pollachi municipality to end the fraudulent career of a woman who brazenly impersonated another with the same name, bagged her job in the municipality , changed her father's name, date of birth and educational qualifications.
Section 416 in The Indian Penal Code : Cheating by personation.—A person is said to “cheat by personation” if he cheats by pretending to be some other person, or by knowingly substituting one person for another, or representing that he or any other person is a person other than he or such other person really is. According to Sec 419 : Punishment for cheating by personation.—Whoever cheats by personation shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.
Fond of Jallikattu – read this now : When Kannan of of Virattipattu drove away the car sponsored by TN CM Mr Edappadi Palaniswami after winning the Alanganallur jallikattu on January 16, few would have imagined that he had taken everyone for a ride too. A week after the world-famous event was held, an inquiry has brought to light that he had not tamed all the 12 bulls which fetched him glory, but only five. He had cleverly taken the place of M Harikrishnan of Achampattu who went out after taming seven following an injury.
According to the records, Kannan came into the arena at 8.30am in the first round and tamed 12 bulls following all rules. He wore a T-shirt with number 33 printed on it. However, tahsildars Sivakumar and Palanikumar who viewed the videos of the games at the Vadipatti taluk office along with revenue officials found that this was not true. They saw Harikrishnan leave the arena after taming seven bulls after suffering an injury and Kannan entering wearing the same shirt. Kannan is believed to have swapped his T-shirt with Harikrishnan’s and bagged the honours through impersonation. Adjudged the best tamer, he was given the car announced as the prize on behalf of the Chief minister. In the days following the event, word has been going around that Kannan was not the true winner and that he had impersonated another tamer. Later, it was revealed that Kannan’s name was not even there in the list of tamers who had registered with the revenue department.
Subsequently, Karuppanan of Pothumbu, who won the second prize, lodged a complaint in this regard with the collector. When contacted, district collector T Anbazhagan said prizes were under the control of the organising committee and not the district administration. Their role was to ensure the arrangements for jallikattu were made according to government norms. He had asked the RDO to conduct an inquiry and take appropriate action following the complaint. The tahsildars have submitted their report to the collector for further action.
With regards – S. Sampathkumar24.1.2021.
