CPI(M) Polit Bureau member G. Ramakrishnan has demanded a separate legislation and police wing to deal with brutal caste killings in the name of ‘honour’, saying they had become an unending social crime in Tamil Nadu, the land of social justice.
“As per the data collected by our party, the State has witnessed 192 honour killings since 2014, and 70% of the victims were women,” Mr. Ramakrishnan, a former State secretary of the CPI(M), told The Hindu on Monday.
He said there were five caste-related killings in July alone — two in Mettupalayam and one each in Thoothukudi, Tiruchi and Cuddalore — and the Thoothukudi incident was more revealing about “social intolerance” since the marriage concerned involved two sections of Dalits. In Mettupalayam, a man killed his brother and the latter’s bride for marrying outside their community.
“Article 302 of the IPC is not adequate to deal with the crime. The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, may not help when the crime involves a girl belonging to a caste Hindu community. That is why our party is urging the State government and the Centre to enact a special legislation for the purpose,” he said.
Explaining why a separate police wing was necessary to curb caste-based murders, Mr. Ramakrishnan said the ‘failure’ on the part of the police to provide protection to a couple resulted in the killing of a caste Hindu girl in Usilampatti for marrying a Dalit. “We had sent emails and alerts to the Superintendent of Police about the threat faced by the couple and sought protection [for them]. It was not provided, and the girl was murdered. Though the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court ordered the creation of a special branch (to deal with caste crimes), it was not constituted,” he said.
