CHENNAI : It would not be an exaggeration to say that Tamil Nadu leads the country in caste atrocities. However, accurate data has been hard to come by. For instance, in April 2023, the Rajya Sabha was informed that only three killings in the name of honour had been committed in TN from 2017 to 2021, with 25 such killings occuring nationwide in 2020 and 33 in 2021.
Meanwhile, NGO Evidence has identified at least 24 such murders in Tamil Nadu from 2021 to 2023. It seems likely that such murders are underreported with no transparency in how they are recorded. Without accurate data, how will states prevent such murders?
In TN, over the last 25 years, the accused in only six cases of murder in the name of caste honour – Shankar-Kousalya, Kannagi-Murugesan, Gokulraj, Amirthavalli, Kalpana, Abirami – were convicted of their crimes.
The sad reality in TN is that most such murders are covered up as deaths by suicide. In the case of a caste Hindu woman murdered for loving a Dalit man in Ramanathapuram, it took four years for the truth to see daylight. Strangely in TN, the police personnel, who are responsible for preventing caste atrocities and murders, join hands with casteist forces. Consider an incident in Madurai. A caste Hindu woman from Madurai married a Dalit youth from Tiruppur. The woman’s family convinced the couple that they would conduct a proper wedding for them and took her back to their home. For weeks the youth was unable to speak to her and finally lodged a complaint with the police. The police, however, told her family to convince the woman to give a statement saying she did not want to live with the youth. The family murdered the woman and burned her body. The trend of families murdering a female relative for marrying or being in a relationship with a Dalit has become a regular affair in TN.
According to a Madras High Court order, when an intercaste marriage happens, the district’s superintendent of police and officials from the Adi Dravidar and Social Welfare departments must ensure the safety of the couple; committees are to be formed to ensure this protection. However, only three districts in TN have formed such committees. The Supreme Court ordered that a law be enacted against such murders and issued guidelines to be followed till then. However, the guidelines are not followed in TN.
A Bill was proposed but never came up for discussion in Parliament. In 2022, Evidence met the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and handed over a draft legislation titled ‘The Freedom of Marriage and Association and Prohibition of Crimes in the Name of Honour Act 2022’ but there has been no progress on it.
A special law to handle these cases is particularly required as when a caste Hindu is murdered for loving or marrying a Dalit, the case cannot be registered under the SC/ST Act. The proposed legislation would still consider such a murder a caste crime.
Casteist persons want to control a woman’s body as they see it as a means to perpetuate their caste. But if two consenting adults wish to marry, none has the power to stop the marriage. TN leads the country in ‘jathi maruppu thirumanam’ (marriages that deny caste) and social justice. If the state enacts legislation against killings in the name of honour, it will lead the way for the rest of the country.
SAD REALITY
Over the last 25 years, the accused in only six cases of murder in the name of caste honour — Shankar-Kousalya, Kannagi-Murugesan, Gokulraj, Amirthavalli, Kalpana, Abirami — were convicted. Most such murders are covered up as deaths by suicide.
Footnote is a weekly column that discusses issues relating to Tamil Nadu
A Kathir is the executive director of Evidence, an NGO
CHENNAI: Neelankarai police have registered a case against the son and daughter-inlaw of Pallavaram MLA for abusing and branding an 18-year-old girl who was working as
a maid at their house.
Personnel from the all-women police station had visited Ulundurpet government hospital
and taken statements from the girl before registering a case against MLA Karunanidhi’s
son Anto Mathivanan and his wife Marlina Ann.
The case was registered under various sections for assault, abuse, criminal intimidation.
The SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act has also been invoked.
Rekha of Thirunarunkundram village near Ulundurpet was in April 2023 sent to work at
Anto Mathivanan’s house after her father died. She filed a complaint at Ulundurpet when
she went home for Pongal and told her mother about the ordeal.
The complaint was forwarded to the Neelankarai police station. Rekha said she stayed
silent for so long as Ann had threatened her and her family with dire consequences if she
complained. At a press conference in Madurai on Friday, Rekha showed the media the
wounds from branding with a hair-straightener and a big bruise on her head. Rekha said
that she was hired to cut vegetables and clean the house for ₹16,000 a month but was
made to do all household work from 6am to 10pm. “Ann took away my mobile phone and
used to beat me with a broom, ladle, and slippers. When I wanted to go home, she made
me sign an agreement to work for six months,” she said.
“Ann would be present when my mother called me on the phone and would slap or beat
me if I tried to give any clue of the torture I was undergoing in the house.”
She also said that her belongings were kept in one of the toilets in the flat and that she
was given a sack of PDS rice as they did not want her to share the food made for them.
Because of the repeated beatings, she suffered injuries to her face, hands, and body, she
said.
Rekha’s mother Selvi told reporters that she never knew what her daughter was
undergoing in that house. “We are poor, and I thought they were helping my daughter
study. But she was brutally tortured by the woman,” she said, breaking down.
Pallavaram MLA I Karunanithi told TOI he had no links to the incident. “I have been
staying in Chromepet for four decades while my son moved to Thiruvanmiyur from day
one of his marriage seven years ago. I came to know about the incident only through the
media and made futile attempts to speak with my son. Let the police act against anyone
who committed the crime, I won’t interfere. The girl says neither me nor my son was
involved. I don’t know what happened there,” he said.
Karunanidhi is a two-time MLA from Pallavaram assembly segment.