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Intercaste marriage: Indian student hacked to death by wife’s relatives

Published

8 years ago

March 14, 2016

Intercaste marriage: Indian student hacked to death by wife’s relatives

Three men armed with sickles and sharp weapons attacked and killed a 22-year-old student while his wife was critically injured in a suspected “honour killing” by relatives angered by their intercaste marriage, Indian police operatives said on Monday.

Sources say the student was hacked to death on a crowded street in Tamil Nadu state on Sunday because he was from the lowest Dalit caste while his wife is from an upper Thevar Hindu caste.

CCTV footage of the incident broadcast on Indian television showed the couple walking along the street when three men on a motorbike stop and attack them.

Local police commissioner N Manjunatha said the 19-year-old woman’s relatives were angered by the couple’s marriage.

“The couple had faced death threats from the woman’s family from the day they got married,” the deceased man’s father said, according to a report in the “Times of India.”

“They married some eight months ago and the woman’s family was unhappy. She is an upper Thevar Hindu caste and the man was a Dalit,” Manjunatha told AFP.

“The woman is recovering at a local hospital and police are searching for her uncle in connection with the attack, he said.

These so-called honor killings are often carried out by relatives or caste members to protect what they see as the family’s pride.

Such killings are common in India where couples who engage in intercaste marriage are targeted because their families or communities disapprove of their relationships over caste or religion.

Around one fifth of the 5,000 honor killings committed around the world each year which are related to intercaste marriage killings take place in India, according to figures from the United Nations.

Thevars are a dominant community in Tamil Nadu, while members of the lowest Dalit caste – formerly known as “untouchables”- have been historically marginalized.

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