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A young couple, whose inter-caste marriage was opposed by their families, was on Sunday brutally attacked by a gang with sickles in full public view in Tamil Nadu's Tirupur district, resulting in the death of the husband, who was Dalit.
The local police have said that Kausalya's father has surrendered.
In CCTV footage, three persons riding a motorcycle are seen sneaking up on the couple and attacked them with sickles. Business Standard is refraining from using the video due to the graphic nature the violence.
The incident, the latest in a series of caste-related killings in the state, has once again highlighted caste violence in the state. According to NDTV, in 2013, a Dalit man, who had married an upper caste woman, was found dead in Dharmapuri district and another young man, who had been found talking to an upper caste woman, was abducted and then found dead in Namakkal district last year.
According to NDTV, 23-year-old V Sankar, an engineering student, and 19-year-old Kausalya, who belongs to the Thevar caste, had married eight months ago. On Sunday, the report says, the couple was out shopping for their college annual day when they were attacked — the third such incident in Tamil Nadu in the last five years.
While Sankar died on the way to the hospital, his wife, who suffered head injuries, according to the report, was admitted to the Coimbatore Government Hospital. The Indian Express reported on late Sunday evening that she was out of danger.
According to The Indian Express, senior officers investigating the case have "verified the image of the three assailants fleeing on a bike".
Speaking to NDTV, Sankar's father said, "We thought her parents would accept them but it has ended in this bloody tragedy. We have lost him."
His brother Vignesh added that "campus interviews were supposed to take place soon after and he would've gotten a job".
An officer involved with the investigation into the incident, while speaking to The Indian Express, said, “She (Kausalya) comes from the Thevar community (and) her parents were opposed to the wedding. Kausalya had filed a complaint at the local police station against her father a few weeks ago, stating that he had been threatening them and insisting that she return home.”
DMK leaders have also attacked the AIADMK government and the state's Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa over the incident, according to a report by IBN Live.
According to the report, DMK spokesperson T K S Elangovan said, "This is going in Tamil Nadu for some time. The AIADMK government's police isn't sensitive to such issues. There should be policemen going around. How did this happen when everyone is watching and no one stopped the culprits. The footage shows the culprits. The police should arrest the culprits. Police are inactive. This is an uncivilised act."
National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Chairman P L Punia, while speaking to IBN Live, said, "It is a shocking incident. We have sought answers from Tamil Nadu government. We have seen that there has been many cases of Dalit atrocities in Tamil Nadu. I will personally visit Tamil Nadu. There needs to be sensitivity regarding security of Dalits."
