Tamil Nadu witnessed a gruesome incident of honour killing on Sunday in which a 22-year-old Dalit engineering graduate was hacked to death in public by three men on a motorcycle.

The incident took place in front of a shop at Udumalpet in Tirupur district and was captured on a CCTV camera installed in the locality.

The deceased, V. Sankar had married 19-year-old S. Kausalya, a Hindu girl from the dominant Thevar community. Kausalya’s family was opposed to this marriage and even moved to court to separate them.

The men on the motorcycle attacked Sankar and his wife with lethal weapons. Succumbing to severe injuries on his body, Sankar died on his way to the hospital. Kausalya also suffered head injury and was admitted to Coimbatore Government Hospital.The police are still probing the case and have formed a special team to nab the culprits. Two of the accused are being interrogated and the father of the victim’s wife reportedly surrendered before the Judicial Magistrate at Nilakottai in Dindigul district.

What does the incident say about our society?

Honour Killings have always been a crucial problem in India. While most of the cases of honour killings are reported from the north Indian states of Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh; in Tamil Nadu many cases go unreported because such deaths are often passed as suicides. This particular incident that happened under broad daylight indicates the reality of the social scenario. Inter-caste marriages — particularly those involving Dalit bride or groom — often strike discord amongst the dominant Hindu community. According to a member of Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF), there have been 98 cases of honour killings in Tamil Nadu between 2012 and 2015, most of them of which were covered up as ‘suicides’.

The Logical Indian is appalled at the gruesome act and action must be taken against the culprits.We desperately need a change in the mindset of people who are still not able to accept inter-caste marriages. Many of our community members believe that caste-based discrimination doesn’t exist in our society but the reality is far away from that. Till the time we don’t accept the reality, we won’t be able to end it. A week back, a child got drowned in a well as he was refused to drink water from a hand-pump for being from a lower caste.