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.
Even in the cases that come to court, ensuring justice is a challenge. It is easy to get a conviction if you have strong evidence. But, evidence is difficult to collect in cases where a person has been murdered for caste pride as the crime is planned by family members and casteist individuals. These are people who killed their own children for caste pride and go on to threaten and assault witnesses. The witnesses then hesitate to speak up and turn hostile.
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