'Untouchable' who married upper-caste girl hacked to death on busy

Indian street

V Shankar, a member of Tamil Nadu's Dalit community, had married eight months
earlier despite some of his bride's family's objections to his lowly caste

Footage of the killing was captured on CCTV cameras and onlookers’ mobile phones. Photo: INDIA TODAY

By Andrew Marszal, New Delhi

12:24PM GMT 14 Mar 2016

A member of India’s lowest “untouchable” caste who married an upper caste girl was
hacked to death in broad daylight on a busy market street on Sunday.

V Shankar, a 22-year-old engineering student, and his 19-year-old wife Kausalya were
set upon by three men wielding scythes in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, as a
crowd of bystanders watched in horror.

The pair had married eight months earlier, some of Kausalya's family, who are from
the politically dominant Thevar community, objected to the marriage.
Footage of the killing was captured on CCTV cameras and onlookers’ mobile phones.
The assailants, who fled on a motorcycle, have yet to be identified by police.

Mr Shankar, who suffered multiple injuries including a deep sickle gash to his neck,
was declared dead on arrival at Coimbatore hospital.

Kausalya remains in intensive care with severe head injuries, but is “out of danger”,
officials said.

According to Mr Shankar’s family, some relatives of Kausalya had opposed their

marriage because of his humble caste status.

Dalits - or “untouchables” - occupy the lowest position on India’s strict, hierarchical

caste system, which is composed of self-contained and unalterable social groups into
which Indians are born and are usually expected to marry.

Just a few weeks before the attack, Kausalya had filed a police complaint against her
own father for allegedly threatening her and her husband, and insisting that she
return home, an official told the Indian Express.

Kausalya’s father submitted himself for questioning at a police station on Monday,

but denies any involvement in the attack.

The couple met at a private engineering college in Pollachi, where they fell in love.
They had been visiting a department store in Udumalaipettai town when they were
attacked just after 3pm local time on Sunday.

Official statistics reported 28 honour killings in India in 2014, the most recent year on
record, although UN estimates say the true figure could be as high as 1,000.

The state of Madhya Pradesh had the most murders due to honour killings in 2014 -
one-in-four took place in the central state, according to India's National Crime
Records Bureau.

That same year, an additional 1,307 murders due to love affairs were counted across
India, and a further 1,196 due to "illicit relationships".
ABOUT

Indian caste system

Getty

Caste is the main form of identity for many Indians, defining the centuries-
old, self-contained and unalterable social groups into which they were born
and are usually expected to marry.
The word ‘caste’ is a Portuguese invention that conflates two Indian words -
‘varna' and ‘jati’.
The ‘varnas’ are a broad system of social ranking found in the ancient Hindu
scriptures. There are four traditional varnas - from top-to-bottom, priests,
warriors, traders and labourers. The Dalits (former ‘Untouchables’) form a fifth
and lowest group.
‘Jatis’ are smaller, regional groups often based on a family’s occupation. There
are over 3,000 in India. Within any region these can also be ranked in order of
prestige, though it is possible for a jati to move up or down in society over
time.
Discriminating against anyone because of their caste is illegal. However, as
Indians are often able to tell a person’s caste through simple markers such as
their surname, this is hard to enforce.
© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2018