The afternoon of Sunday 13 March would have been just another day in Udumalpet area of Tirupur in Tamil Nadu except that one 22-year-old Dalit boy, V Shankar, was hacked to death by three goons at 3 in the afternoon in full public view. After they were through killing Shankar, they brutally beat up his 19-year-old wife - Kausalya, before leaving.
Shankar, a resident of Kumaralingam village, was a young engineering student still pursuing his studies from a private engineering college and had married Kausalya, a girl from the upper caste Thevar community, just eight months ago. Kausalya, a resident of Palani in Dindigul district, had recently taken up a job to support her husband complete his studies. Post marriage, both were staying in Komaralingam.
The fact that a Dalit boy had the temerity to marry a girl from a higher caste, did not go down well with the girl’s family, who opposed the couple eloping and marrying against family wishes. Such was the opposition, that the father soon began threatening to kill the boy and repeatedly asked Kausalya to leave Shankar and return home.
The girl had earlier filed a police complaint against her father, but as usual, was taken lightly by the police. Sunday saw the consequence of that laxity. The boy is dead and the girl lies critically injured in hospital. The girl’s father has since surrendered while the goons are yet to be arrested.
The afternoon of Sunday 13 March would have been just another day in Udumalpet area of Tirupur in Tamil Nadu except that one 22-year-old Dalit boy, V Shankar, was hacked to death by three goons at 3 in the afternoon in full public view. After they were through killing Shankar, they brutally beat up his 19-year-old wife - Kausalya, before leaving.
Shankar, a resident of Kumaralingam village, was a young engineering student still pursuing his studies from a private engineering college and had married Kausalya, a girl from the upper caste Thevar community, just eight months ago. Kausalya, a resident of Palani in Dindigul district, had recently taken up a job to support her husband complete his studies. Post marriage, both were staying in Komaralingam.
The fact that a Dalit boy had the temerity to marry a girl from a higher caste, did not go down well with the girl’s family, who opposed the couple eloping and marrying against family wishes. Such was the opposition, that the father soon began threatening to kill the boy and repeatedly asked Kausalya to leave Shankar and return home.
The girl had earlier filed a police complaint against her father, but as usual, was taken lightly by the police. Sunday saw the consequence of that laxity. The boy is dead and the girl lies critically injured in hospital. The girl’s father has since surrendered while the goons are yet to be arrested.
