Less than a week after two lovers from different castes committed suicide in Kodaikanal due to opposition from their families, another inter-caste relationship, this time including a minor girl, triggered tension in another place in Dindigul district.
On Sunday, a caste panchayat in Murugampatti in Athoor Taluk summoned the family of a 20-year-old Dalit man after he allegedly eloped with a girl from the Hindu Yadav community earlier in the day. According to police, Marichelvan, a resident of Kallampatti near Murugampatti, was a college dropout. In 2012, he reportedly fell in love with the girl, a class-XI student.
The couple apparently managed to keep their relationship a secret. On Sunday morning, the girl told her parents that she was going to a temple. As she failed to return, her parents found out about the relationship when they came across love letters hidden in her schoolbag.
Suspecting that she had eloped with Marichelvan, the girl’s family lodged a complaint with the Murugampatti Police Station alleging that she had been abducted by the youth. Even as police began efforts to trace the missing couple, the girl’s family sought intervention of the Yadav community.
The caste panchayat summoned Marichelvan’s relatives. They demanded that his family make efforts to trace the couple and provide any information on the matter.
Meanwhile, Murugampatti Police filed a case and were investigating.
