Chennai: The Madras High Court today directed the state government to set up a special cell in each district to investigate complaints filed by inter-caste couples and start a 24-hour helpline for them. It was hearing a case on dishonor killings in Tamil Nadu.
The court’s guidelines to the government for setting up an elaborate apparatus to help such couples include creating safe, short-stay homes for them. The government has also been asked to counsel parents who oppose inter-caste marriages.
The state has seen 81 dishonour killings over the last three years, according to a study by Evidence, an NGO that works on atrocities against Dalits. Activists allege the governments have gone soft on the perpetrators of these alleged killings for political gains.
The court directed the state police to take action against five police personnel for “shoddy investigation” of the death of Vimala Devi, who was allegedly killed by her parents for marrying Dileep Kumar, a Dalit, in 2014, reported NDTV.
Ms Devi, 22, from the Thevar caste, had married a Dalit man after leaving home and moving to Kerala. The girls’ parents however filed a missing-persons complaint with the police and she was brought back. She died on the night she was brought back and her family claimed it was a suicide. Mr Kumar with the help of activists was able to get a case registered to investigate the death which was eventually transferred to the CBI on the high court’s directions.
Last month, a Dalit engineering student was allegedly hacked to death in Tamil Nadu’s Tirupur and his 19-year-old wife – also from the Thevar caste – was left badly injured after they were attacked on a busy street. The attack was captured on camera, re-igniting the debate on dishonor killings.