Name: Elango. Age: 25. Place: Muneerpallam village Tirunelveli. Incident: Elango was murdered by a gang of men who opposed his falling in love with Selvalakshmi, 18, a dominant caste girl in Erode.
Selvalakshmi’s brother Saravanan, who wanted to save the ‘honour’ of the family, arranged his friends to ‘finish off’ Elango, a dalit. His friends brought Elango to Muneerpallam secretly and killed him.
Now Saravanan’s gang has been put behind bars. Selvalakshmi is depressed and sees no hope for her future.
This is not an isolated case. Many Elangos and Selvalakshmis are facing threat from their families for marrying out of their caste.
Tamil Nadu - the land of progressive Dravidian and rationalist ideas - is becoming unsafe for young women and men who wish to marry out of their caste.
Many youngsters are tortured by their families when they wish to marry someone from a different caste.
There are cases of families killing their own children to save their ‘honour’. And some families, unable to prevent the marriages, attack the couple after the wedding.
According to the state crime records bureau, over 450 persons have committed suicide due to ‘love affairs’ in Tamil Nadu in the last five years.
The latest report says 492 persons killed themselves for love. Instances of youngsters being killed by their own families are hitting the headlines often.
In another case in Ramanathapuram, a mother and grandmother of a bride were arrested for killing the girl who got married to a lower caste man.
Three days ago, a dominant caste parent was alleged to have kidnapped her grandchild as the child was born to a dalit man. There is a misconception that honour killing occurs only in villages.
In another incident, a caste Hindu girl of Chennai, Sadhura, who married a dalit, Daniel Selvakumar, working in a private bank, was poisoned by her family for ‘spoiling’ their family name.
Experts say that these murders are often recorded as just another case and not as honour killings. Mr A. Kathir, director of Evidence, dalit rights NGO, said, “The number of honour killings which come to light is very few. In many cases, the police fail to mention honour killing.”
He adds, “In May 2012, PMK member Kaduvetti Guru declared that he would not spare the Vanniyar family which allows its children to marry out of caste. The government should take action against people who oppose inter-caste marriages.”
Reds, Gounders face off on inter-caste marriages
It’s now Marxists against Gounders. Namakkal-based ‘Kongu Vellala Gounder Peravai’ - a Gounders group - has announced that it would form a team to prevent inter-caste marriages in Tamil Nadu.
The peravai has asked young Gounders to join the ‘movement against inter-caste marriages’ and thereby strengthen the community. Recently, the Communist Party of India (Marxists) members started a movement to increase inter-caste marriages in the state.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, both parties shared their views and put forth their arguments. “All inter-caste marriages are failures - 100 per cent failures,” stressed Pongalur R. Manikandan, state president of the peravai. He said because of inter-caste marriages, the Kongu community was losing its tradition.
“We perform various rituals and ceremonies during weddings. Because of these inter-caste marriages, we lose our tradition. We do not want this to happen,” he says.
When pointed out that the ideals of his peravai were against the law, he said, “Even if our ideals are against the law, we have the right to violate them.” He said politicians framed laws to get votes.
When it was mentioned that the Constitution was adopted in 1949 and discrimination is prohibited, he said he was confident about his decision. His peravai would approach college students and youths and tell them not to go in for inter-caste marriages, he emphasised.
Declaring that the Kongu Peravai’s ideals were against the Constitution which prohibits untouchability and discrimination, CPI(M) state secretary G. Ramakrishnan said, “They have their right to assemble and discuss issues relating to their community.
But they shouldn’t pass a resolution against inter-caste marriages. If that happens, it means that they work against the spirit of our Constitution,” he said.
‘Awareness needed to curb honour killings’
“Honour killing occurs in a majority of cases when a dominant caste woman gets married to a dalit man. But the aggressiveness is less among the families when a dalit girl marries a dominant caste man,” says D. Ravikumar, General secretary, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi.
Putting forward his views on ways to curb the menace, Mr Ravikumar goes on to say, “Government has to organise series of awareness campaigns on inter-caste marriages. And take immediate action against honour killings and crimes.
Stringent action should be initiated to curb this social evil in our Dravidian land. As members of a dalit party we help out victims of honour killings and crimes to get justice. We organise rallies and protest if needed. We talk about importance of inter-caste marriages in our meetings.
But we cannot jump into the campaigns in full swing. It may result in cast clashes also. In case of NGO groups, many voluntary organizations assist the families of victims and also bring the issues to the light through media.”
He stressed the need for government to get active on this issue. “Apart from rights organisations and various political parties; a cordial atmosphere will prevail in the society if the government steps in to campaign.
The government has to step in to promote inter-caste marriages with more publicity to the welfare schemes available for inter-caste marriage couples,” he says Birthdays of leaders like Gandhi and Periyar could be celebrated as 'untouchability day' and awareness programmes can be organised to promote inter-caste marriages. This would pass the message to people in the remote villages,” he concludes.
State pioneered inter-caste marriages
The open threats posted by some caste-based outfits and political parties to prevent inter-caste marriages in the state would only be empty rhetoric as no marriage law in India prevents marriage on the grounds of caste.
Be it the Hindu Marriage Act 1955, Mohammedan Law or Christian law, an individual or organisation or even a government official cannot stop a legitimate inter-caste marriage.
“No Act talks about the caste. It governs the parties only in respect of religion,” says leading Madras high court lawyer and author of many law books, A. Sirajudeen, referring to marriage laws of Hinduism, Christianity and Islam.
“Two persons (a man and woman) belonging to any caste can marry if they are Hindus under Hindu Marriage Act.
In Mohammedan and Christian law, it is sufficient if just one person belongs to the religion. Nowhere does the law talk about the caste,” he pointed out.
Any threat posed by an individual or organisation to a legitimate inter-caste marriage would be unconstitutional and amount to infringing a person’s fundamental and human rights, Sirajudeen said.
Tamil Nadu had been a notch ahead of the rest even decades ago as it enacted a separate legislation for self-respect marriages in the 1960s. As a result of the efforts of former chief minister C.N. Annadurai, an amendment was brought to legalise self-respect marriages in 1967.
Both former chief minister M. Karunanidhi and present chief minister J. Jayalaithaa introduced a slew of schemes, including financial assistance and priority in job to promote inter-caste marriage.
In fact, the state has a long history dating back to grand old days of Justice Party and Thanthai Periyar and his Dravidian Movement in promoting inter-caste marriages.
The contemporary crackdown on inter-caste marriages would definitely qualify for an indelible blot given the state’s fight against caste discrimination.