Image used for representational purpose only. (Express Illustration)
Caste pride continues to thrive in Tamil Nadu, robbing youngsters, especially women, of the freedom to choose their own partners and keeping them in line with the threat of death. The parents of a 19-year-old caste Hindu woman were recently arrested for her murder because she married a Dalit. Anti-caste activists have pointed out that 80 percent of the victims of these crimes are women. Deep-seated patriarchal and caste values reinforce one another—over 70 years of the Dravidian movement have barely eroded the surface of this twisted nexus. The concern on the persistence of these values may be as great as the reality that the state apparatus is often directly or indirectly complicit in such violence.
In the recent case, after the woman’s parents learnt of her marriage, they registered a complaint that she was missing. The local police took her to the police station from her marital home and had her meet her parents. The woman left with her parents but it is believed her interaction with them was mediated by the police in their favour. An inspector was subsequently suspended. Last month, a caste Hindu woman in a relationship with a Dalit was murdered after the police sent her with her parents despite her having filed a complaint against them for threatening her life. In these cases, the sympathy of the police— a product of their own patriarchal instincts, alongside caste and religious values—are too often with the parents, infantilising women and refusing to respect their agency.
The way forward to an egalitarian society is long and arduous. However, it is the duty of the state to ensure equality and freedom. The first step would be to enforce the guidelines framed by the Supreme Court that include the formation of district committees as well as helplines to protect inter-caste and inter-religious couples. That Tamil Nadu, a state with a history of anti-caste movements as well as a high number of killings in the name of caste pride, has yet to implement the guidelines in letter and spirit is a matter of shame. Second, the Centre and states must work towards creating legislation—as drafted by some activists—that protects the freedom of adults to form relationships with any other adult regardless of caste, faith, gender identity or sexual orientation, and penalises violence against such couples committed in the name of honour.
