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Killing in the name of honour by Jaya Menon


A charred piece of earth and some bits of bones are the only signs of a dastardly killing in the name of honour. No other evidence remains of the spine-chilling crime to mar the rustic charm of Maalaipatti village, perched among the green mountains of the Western Ghats in Dindigul district. On July 28, 2008, a few days after being chained in a bathroom and treated like a rabid dog outside her terraced house, tortured and beaten up with a wooden log, young Sangeetha, barely conscious, was burnt to death by her family members near a dry water channel running through a field. The dalit youths, who were called to conduct the last rites, recall in horror how the terrified, emaciated girl had regained consciousness as the flames engulfed her, shouting for help.

The village, in which the intermediate Naicker caste is the dominant community, then purged itself the floors of the houses were scrubbed clean with detergent and water, and the walls whitewashed. The local Mariamman temple too got a fresh coat of paint. The village had decreed that Sangeetha should die for bringing shame to her community by eloping with a dalit boy from the village.

But police in the Vilampatti station, barely a km from the village, claim ignorance about the incident. They have, in fact, "dropped action" in the case. Vilampatti circle inspector, D Sakkarai says, "We have closed the case. We found clear evidence that the girl had committed suicide." Then why had relatives hurriedly cremated the body without even informing the police? "Yes, that is the only unresolved issue," he admits.


Sub-inspector, Geetha Devi of the Nilakkottai all-woman police station, who had been instrumental in tracking the lovers, and getting them back to their families, says, "If I had know that such a fate awaited Sangeetha I would never have got them back to the village."

Even two years after the incident, scribes visiting the village are viewed with suspicion and hostility. "The family has suffered enough," said a Maalaiaatti resident belonging to the intermediate Naicker caste sullenly when asked about the incident. Residents in the colony of dalits in neighbouring Ethilodu talk in hushed tones about how the Naickers had conspired to kill the girl from their own community for daring to elope with a dalit youth.

A couple of days before Sangeetha was burnt alive, allegedly by her own family, Maalaipatti's dominant caste gathered in the square, not in their own village but in Pullakaadupatti, a km or two away, to hold court and decide how to purge the slur brought upon by the girl. It did not take long for the elders, hardened by caste sentiments, to arrive at a verdict. "They decided to kill the girl. They burnt her alive," said a shocked N Kamalanathan, panchayat president of Ethilodu, neighbouring Maalaipatti, shrugging helplessness. The youth, K Balachander (20), whom Sangeetha wished to marry, hailed from Ethilodu.

The shocking spectacle of caste leaders and elders holding kangaroo courts, huddled in the mandhai' (a low-slung, tile-roofed structure) in the village square and passing death verdicts on those who dare to violate the caste diktat is nothing new in Tamil Nadu's rural areas. "It is a custom so ingrained in the village system that few

dare to question it," says A Kathir of Evidence. "The parents of the girls or boys who rebel and fall in love or marry out of caste are blamed for the shame' brought on the village and in many cases, they pressured to murder their errant' son or daughter or drive them to suicide."

"There are several such cases that take place, many of them are not brought to our notice," admits P Murugadasan, inspector of the Manamadurai (Sivaganga district) police station and investigating another incident of honour killing, the Megala case.

"Though both Shiva and Megala were from the same caste, their marriage was considered a dishonour for the family as the girl had been forced to marry a relative a few days before she decided to elope with Shiva. The family and relatives had hatched a plot to kill them both. It was fortunate that Megala escaped," says T Manoharan (45), Shiva's uncle from Kattikulam.

"What's more shocking is the fact that the police turn a blind eye when such killings take place. By turning their backs, they, in fact, encourage such killings," says Chennai-based Daniel Selvakumar (29), a dalit Christian, fighting for justice in the case of his wife's death. Sathura (24), hailing from the Thevar community of Vadachery village in Thanjavur had been lured by her family to come back home with the promise that their marriage would be conducted according to Hindu rituals. On March 23, Daniel was informed that his wife had committed suicide. Police harassed the youth when he rushed to the village and refused to allow him to even see his wife's body.

"I showed him pictures of her body. Her left ear had turned blue. We are not sure if she poured poison into her ear herself or if someone else did it," said then Thanjavur superintendent of police, now in Chennai's cyber crime, G Sampath.