Inter-caste couples and activists talk about caste violence in Tamil Nadu, and the state’s failings in protecting couples from the brutal violence of their own families.
“My mother hit me with a stick and burned the soles of my feet. My father tried to kill me with an aruvamanai (a vegetable cutter).” Four years on, Keerthi* still shudders as she recounts her parents’ rage when she told them that she, a Vanniyar (classified as a Most Backward Class or MBC) woman, wanted to marry Soundar*, a Dalit man.
This was in 2019, when Keerthi’s parents allegedly inflicted severe emotional and physical abuse on her for nearly six months, as they felt their ‘caste pride’ was tarnished by her relationship with Soundar. Yet, the couple held onto hope. With immense courage, Soundar visited Keerthi’s parents and asked for permission to marry her. “Her father asked me if I watched the news. He asked me if I wanted to end up dead, lying in a pool of blood on an open road or on a railway track”, Soundar recalls.
It’s fortunate that the couple made it out alive, and are now happily married. Unlike Kannagi and Murugesan, Vimaladevi, Shankar, Ilavarasan, and scores of other young men and women in Tamil Nadu whose horrific caste murders Keerthi’s father had invoked to intimidate Soundar.
Violence and murders are commonplace for many inter-caste couples in Tamil Nadu, when one of the partners is from a Scheduled Caste. Between 2020 and 2022 alone, activists have recorded at least 18 incidents of caste killings in the state, although the numbers recorded by the police are much lower. Despite its history of anti-caste movements, the state has an abysmally low proportion of inter-caste marriages. Government support systems for inter-caste couples are often unhelpful or inaccessible, according to activists. The police, too, are accused of often mishandling cases of inter-caste relationships, leaving activists and NGOs labouring to support couples in distress.
Victims of ‘honour’ killings: Kannagi and Murugesan (top Left), Ilavarasan and Divya (top Right),
Shankar and Kowsalya (bottom left) and Vimala Devi (bottom right)
After finding out about her relationship with Soundar, Keerthi says her parents tormented her for months. She says she had to dress carefully to hide the scars of their abuse. Her mother would even track her movements at her workplace, to know if she was meeting Soundar. Her father would often show up at her office without notice, she says, travelling the 100 kilometre distance on frivolous pretexts like handing her a pen she had ‘forgotten’ at home.
It was traumatic to be hounded like this. But the worst was yet to come.
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(This story done in collaboration with the BBC is part of the BBCShe project where we are working on journalism to serve women audiences.)
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Things took an ominous turn when Soundar visited Keerthi’s family to ask for their permission to marry her. That is when he allegedly faced death threats from her father, and the couple began to fear for their lives.
As Soundar left their house disheartened, Keerthi remembers her father telling her mother to throw out the chairs on which Soundar and his father had sat. The fruits, sweets, and flowers they had brought found their way to the dustbin.
That was when Keerthi’s parents allegedly began nudging her to write ‘suicide notes.’
“They planned to eventually use the notes [once they killed her]. Keerthi felt that the only way to survive was to get married and get away,” Soundar recounts.
The many hurdles for an inter-caste marriage
In March 2019, Keerthi and Soundar registered their marriage at the sub-registrar’s office in Dindigul. Once legally wedded, they both returned to work without disclosing their marriage to anyone.
But somehow, word got out, and the consequences were harsh to say the least.
“My father beat me with an iron rod when he found out. I bled for hours,” says Keerthi, recalling her final hours in her parents’ house.
She says she was asked to write a letter saying she would never claim her rights to her parents’ properties, or make any attempts to meet them if her marriage eventually failed. Her parents forced Keerthi to leave their house with just Rs 100 in her hands. However, both Keerthi and Soundar had government jobs, and their financial independence helped them start a new life, unlike many young people in Tamil Nadu who never made out of such situations alive.
In 2006, in its landmark judgement in the case of Lata Singh versus State of UP, the Supreme Court had observed that ‘honour’ killings were “shameful acts of murder committed by brutal, feudal-minded persons who deserve harsh punishment,” and ordered stern action against anyone who harasses inter-caste couples. Seventeen years later, threats, intimidation, and brutal violence remain pervasive across the country.
In Tamil Nadu, the proportion of the population opting for inter-caste marriages is appallingly low. According to a study published in 2015, only three percent of the state’s population had married outside their caste. At the national level, the proportion was much higher at 10%, according to the report co-authored by senior academic and former director of the International Institute of Population Sciences (IIPS) K Srinivasan. With 97.04% of people in Tamil Nadu preferring same-caste marriages, the state leads the other southern states in the preference for such marriages.
This is despite Tamil Nadu’s history of Periyar’s Self-Respect Movement that encouraged inter-caste marriages as a way to eradicate caste discrimination. Self-respect marriages were made legally valid in the state through the Hindu Marriage (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act in 1968. Today, many people in Tamil Nadu continue to have self-respect weddings while rejecting Brahminical rituals.
But none of these efforts have made inter-caste couples any less vulnerable to violence.
Read: Self-respect weddings to transgender rights: Karunanidhi, a leader of minorities
As per data collated by Evidence, an NGO that works for Dalit rights, at least 18 incidents of caste murders over inter-caste relationships were recorded between 2020 and 2022. However, not all of them make it to official records. As per the Tamil Nadu State Crime Records Bureau, between 2013 and 2021, only two cases of ‘honour’ killings have been registered in the state.
Dalit writer and activist Jeyarani says most people in Tamil Nadu are determined to practise endogamy. Even the practice of inter-familial marriages of women with their maternal uncles or cousins is intended to restrict women from marrying outside their caste, she says. According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS – 5) 2019-21, 28% of women in Tamil Nadu reported being in consanguineous marriages (where the wife and husband are related by blood), the highest in India.
Samuel Raj, General Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front
When people do marry outside their caste, activists say there aren’t enough support systems to ensure their safety, and accuse the police of frequently mishandling such cases. “When parents approach the police, they often settle the matter informally in the manner of ‘katta panchayats’ (kangaroo courts). The [dominant caste] women are usually sent back to their families, and many times, the women do not escape alive,” said Samuel Raj, general secretary of the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF).
According to Ramesh, an advocate who helps people register inter-caste marriages, another reason that couples remain unprotected is because they often do not want to have their marriages officially recorded. After escaping their families, Ramesh says many couples merely have a wedding ceremony in a temple.
“The fallout is that when the [dominant caste] woman’s parents file a missing complaint, the police often trace the couple and send the woman back because their marriage isn’t legally valid,” Ramesh explains.
On the other hand, it is not easy to get an inter-caste marriage registered. Ramesh says that officials often ask couples to bring their parents along to ensure their consent, despite there being no such requirement under any marriage law.
Armed with replies under the Right to Information Act as proof, Ramesh has been trying to convince officials that the law does not mandate parents’ consent to register a marriage, while helping couples with the taxing process.
But this is just one small step. Ramesh wanted to do more, to create a safe space for people from different castes to interact and find partners — as people typically do within their castes. About two months ago, Ramesh set up an inter-caste matrimonial website named ‘Manidham’ (Humanity). About a hundred people have already registered on the website — a small yet significant start.
Ramesh Periyar, Advocate and Founder of Manidham Materimonial
In 2016, while hearing a petition related to the alleged caste murder of Vimaladevi, a Kallar (MBC) woman who had married a Dalit man named Dilip Kumar, the Madras High Court directed the state government to set up various support systems for inter-caste couples — helpline numbers, online complaint filing facilities, and district-level special cells.
Reporters from TNM and BBC Tamil tried the helpline numbers in five districts – Madurai, Salem, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur and Cuddalore – but did not receive any response.
Vimaladevi died in 2014. Nearly a decade later, the trial is still ongoing. When we reached out to Dilip Kumar, he said he is still hopeful about justice for his deceased wife.
But victims of caste murders often do not have anyone willing to seek justice.
“Usually, in murder cases, the victim’s family fights for justice. But in caste murder cases, the family members themselves are usually the killers. Forget about ensuring a conviction, there is no will to even file a complaint,” Samuel says.
In 2022, the Dalit Human Rights Defender Network, a coalition of anti-caste activists and organisations, put together a draft Bill to prohibit ‘honour’ killings. It seeks protection against victimisation in the name of honour, and also outlines the extent of punishment to perpetrators, and compensation and rehabilitation for survivors.
Read: Anti-caste coalition has drafted a Bill to end ‘honour’ killings: Here’s what it says
Keerthi was 25 years old and financially independent when she expressed her desire to marry Ramesh. Yet, her parents didn’t trust her choice.
Their caste bias was fuelled by myths and misinformation.
“In one of many brainwashing lectures, my mother told me that Dalits take a daily oath to find oppressor-caste women to pursue and marry. It was the most ridiculous thing I had heard. I wondered how a school teacher could possibly think that way,” Keerthi says.
It has been nearly four years since Keerthi left home. She is now a mother to a two-year-old, but her family members continue to ostracise her.
“My mom called me after I delivered my first baby, and has met us twice,” Keerthi says.
But her father is still upset, and never talked to her after throwing her out of the house.
“One day, he will understand me”, Keerthi hopes.
Read: ‘Will continue to fight caste’: Kowsalya starts a new journey, opens salon
*Names changed to protect identity
Read the BBC Tamil version of this article here.
The incident took place near Bhuvanagiri, when a group of people were returning from Parangipettai for a temple ritual on Maasi Maham.
A group of Dalits, who were travelling in a tractor, were stopped and attacked by a group of caste Hindu men, in Cuddalore of Tamil Nadu, on Tuesday, March 7. The incident took place near Bhuvanagiri, when a group of people were returning from Parangipettai after a temple ritual on Maasi Maham. Maasi Maham is one of the important festivals for Hindus living in Tamil Nadu.
According to police, a group of men belonging to the Vanniyar community stopped one of the tractors in which a few people were travelling and attacked them for having the volume too high. However, A Kathir, the founder-director of Evidence, the Madurai-based organisation fighting for Dalit and tribal rights, said that the attack was because of the caste of the people. “It was not that the volume was high, but who was listening to the songs in high volume,” he said.
Police arrested some of the attackers, and sent those injured to hospital in an ambulance. However, the ambulance driver Manikandan, who also belongs to the Vanniyar community, stopped the ambulance near Mela Manakkudi, following which the injured were again attacked by those from the Vanniyar community. Kathir said that the injured were taken to the hospital by those accompanying them.
Six persons, including three children and an elderly person have been admitted to the Bhuvanagiri Government Hospital. Seven persons – Suralirajan (29), Sanjay (23), Dhayanidhi (18), Kumaresan (26), Abhimani (18), Chandru (20) and Subhash (23) – have been arrested in connection with this incident. All of them, except Abhimani, are members of the political party Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), according to police sources.
A 37-year-old Dalit panchayat president in Madurai district says she has been continuously facing humiliation by the people of a dominant caste. Of late, she has been receiving threats on her mobile phone from unknown numbers, following which she has sought protection from the State government.
Vidya, who was elected as the president of Pazhayur panchayat in Peraiyur block in Madurai district, told The Hindu on Thursday: “Every day, the level of torture and humiliation is increasing. My mental agony can’t be explained over the phone in a few lines.”
She filed a complaint in this regard with Saptur police last month, based on which the police registered a case against a few villagers. But, there was no tangible action after that. Now, she said, she was under pressure to withdraw her complaint and go for a compromise.
In her three-page complaint addressed to the Director General of Police, Chief Secretary, Chief Minister’s Special Cell and the Madurai Collector, Ms. Vidya detailed her problems, said A. Kathir, executive director, Evidence, a Madurai-based NGO working for the welfare of Dalits.
In the 2019 rural local body election, Ms. Vidya, a graduate, was elected as the president of the panchayat, which had earlier been under “general” category. Ms. Vidya took steps to lay roads, provide potable water and install streetlights. When she started constructing a community hall, she started receiving threats to stop the work.
Pazhayur panchayat comprised Karisalpatti, Kattarapatti and Pazhayur. Except in Pazhayur, Dalits were in sizable numbers in the panchayat. When she planned to organise meetings in Karisalpatti and Kattarapatti, some ward members belonging to the dominant community opposed. “Five persons, led by one Bharata Pandian, verbally abused me,” she said.
An Evidence team, led by Mr. Kathir, visited the village two days ago. The villagers told the team members that some people mixed urine and faecal matter in the overhead tank water in 2021. Some ward members showed them bottles filled with sewer, saying it was the drinking water supplied to them.
When 40 streetlights were fitted in the village in 2022, they vanished overnight. A complaint was lodged, but there was no police action. Similarly, water pipelines were damaged, and the police had not acted on their complaint, Ms. Vidya said.
Recently, Ms. Vidhya said, some ward members locked her office and pasted cow dung on her name board. When she complained to the police, they obtained an undertaking from the suspects that they would not repeat the act.
The police said they had registered a case under Sections 294 (b), 427 and 506 (1) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 3 (1) (r) and 3 (1) (s) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2015, and arrested Bharata Pandian.
A 33-year-old man, Jeeva, of Nettenthal village, under the Tiruvadanai police station limits in Ramanathapuram district, was attacked by a 10-member gang after the Sivarathri celebrations held in their hamlet last week. However, despite a police complaint, no arrests have been made even five days after the incident, said A. Kathir, executive director of Evidence, a Madurai-based NGO. Mr. Kathir had visited Jeeva in the hospital where he was admitted after the attack.
According to the police, Jeeva’s relative, Dinesh had told him that a gang attacked him on the night of February 18 at the temple festival. Jeeva told the youth that they would go together on the following day to the house of the men who attacked him, and seek justice from the elders of the family.
When they visited the house on the morning of February 19, some elders there questioned the “boldness” of Jeeva and others on their visit to the houses of the dominant community (Thevars) in the hamlet, and abused them, as they belonged to the Scheduled Caste, Jeeva claimed in his complaint.
As the situation appeared tense, Jeeva and the others left. However, some of the gang members chased them and intercepted Jeeva. Within a few minutes, they pulled away his dhothi and tore his shirt. Attacking him with wooden logs, the gang also urinated on him, Jeeva informed the police. As he was unconscious, his relatives took him in a 108 ambulance to the Devakottai Government Hospital.
Following a complaint, the Tiruvadanai police registered a case under sections 147, 148, 294 (b), 355, 363 of the Indian Penal Code and under provisions of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities (Amendment) Act of 2015 on February 23.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Niresh and Inspector Navaneethakrishnan conducted preliminary investigations.
Speaking to The Hindu on Friday, Mr. Kathir however said the police had not yet arrested the accused. “The complainant had named 11 persons as accused and not even one has been held so far,” he said.
Describing the incident as “brutal’ against the downtrodden, he said that the police had not acted impartially. “The only mistake Jeeva seems to have committed was that he had dressed up well and gone to the dominant community’s village. Is this a crime?” Mr Kathir asked, and said that the force used to attack Jeeva was cruel.
Ramanathapuram Superintendent of Police P. Thangadurai said that the police will take stern action as per the law.
Madurai: NGO Evidence has urged the Ramanathapuram district police to arrest the people who assaulted a dalit man and allegedly urinated on him over a quarrel in Ramanathapuram district.In a statement, executive director of Evidence A Kathir said that Jeeva, 33, a dalit man is a resident of Nettendal village near Thiruvadanai in Ramanathapuram district. Jeeva is running a Tasmac shop in Karur district.Jeeva had come to his village for Shivratri on February 18. Jeeva’s 17-year-old cousin had gone to the nearby village to attend a cultural programme on the night of February 18. A dispute broke out between the boy and a boy belonging to another community. Twenty more people joined and assaulted the cousin.Kathir said that the boy complained about this to Jeeva. When Jeeva and his relatives went to the house of the boy belonging to another community on February 19, the latter’s father Murugesan abused him using a caste slur. Jeeva warned that he would lodge a police complaint.When Jeeva and others were consuming water near a school, 10 people including Murugesan came to the spot and started assaulting Jeeva. They allegedly stripped Jeeva’s clothes and urinated on him. When people belonging to Jeeva’s village came to know about this incident and came to the spot, Murugesan and others escaped, said Kathir.Kathir urged the police to register a case under provisions of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and arrest all the accused. He also urged the government to provide a compensation of 5 lakh to Jeeva.Since it is a case of caste discrimination, anticipatory bail should not be given to the accused till chargesheet is filed. Protection should be given to Jeeva, he urged.
MADURAI: The executive director of Evidence, A Kathir, on Thursday, demanded immediate arrest of caste Hindu persons who allegedly urinated on the face of an SC man and partially undressed him during a quarrel in Ramanathapuram on February 19.
According to Kathir, a caste Hindu minor boy, and an SC minor boy had a quarrel, following which the caste Hindu boy brought a few other boys and assaulted the latter in the wee hours of February 19 in Sirugai village. “The SC boy reported this issue to his uncle Jeeva of Nattenthal.
Hence, Jeeva went to the house of the caste Hindu minor boy in Seerthangi village and condemned the family members for the act of the boy who brought in other boys to fight the SC minor boy. Following this, a neighbour of the caste Hindu boy belonging to the same caste, Sethur Murugesan, fought with Jeeva and warned him stating that he is in no way equal to them. Jeeva left the spot stating that he will lodge a complaint,” Kathir said.
He further stated that Jeeva was assaulted by the accused persons when he parked his vehicle in Puliyal village for drinking water. Jeeva was undressed and urinated on his face by the gang, added Kathir stating that later Jeeva was admitted to Government Hospital in Devakottai. The police have informed Evidence that they will register a case.
Kathir demanded the police book a case against the accused persons under the SC/ST Act, and that no bail should be granted for the accused until the chargesheet is filed. He also demanded a compensation of `5 lakh to be given to the victim and also sought police protection for the Jeeva and SC people in the locality.
Even after a 28-year-old woman hailing from the Scheduled Caste community complained about atrocities meted out to her and two children by a Vanniyar couple under Thiddakudi police limits in Cuddalore district, the police had not taken any action for almost 30 days.
In a petition addressed to the Director General of Police Sylendra Babu, the woman Tamilselvi (28), wife of Kaviarasan, said that a couple (Kolanjinathan and his wife Tamilselvi) living in the same locality had been humiliating her and attacked her with weapons. Despite submitting complaints with the Thittakudi police on January 16, they had not taken action.
As a result, again on January 19, she and her two children – 6 years and 5 years old – were assaulted by the couple. When the issue was taken up with the police, they registered an FIR (First Information Report) against Kolanjinathan and his wife, under IPC Sections 294 b, 506 (1), SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act 2015 read with 3 (1) (r) and 3 (1) (s) among others.
However, the police did not arrest the couple. When on February 7 night, the couple knocked her doors and brandished a knife attempting to kill her, she immediately took up the issue with the Cuddalore Superintendent of Police, upon whose directions, the Thittakudi police assured her that they would take action.
Under such circumstances, when the complainant approached Evidence, an NGO, following which a fact-finding team visited the habitation on February 16.
According to Evidence executive director A. Kathir, the Thittakudi police and the DSP had not taken action as per the laws.
“Just registering a case alone is not enough. Within 30 days, the police should have filed its final report, but in this case, they have not even questioned the complainant Tamilselvi…” he charged.
The reason behind the police not arresting the accused immediately also gave suspicion since the couple had filed a bail application in the High Court. When the complainant learnt about this, she personally appeared before the court and submitted video evidence following which the court dismissed the bail and directed the police to arrest them, Mr. Kathir said and added that the complainant’s husband was working abroad.
The fact-finding team urged the government to take stern action against the DSP and the Thittakudi police for not acting swiftly. The NGO demanded the government to pay compensation to the complainant and also give protection to the family.