Indian student hacked to death in ‘honour killing’ for intercaste marriage

An Indian student from the lowest Dalit caste was hacked to death and his wife critically injured in southern India in a suspected “honour killing” by relatives angered by their marriage, police have said. Three men armed with sickles and sharp weapons attacked the 22-year-old student and his wife, who is from a higher caste, on a crowded street in Tamil Nadu state on Sunday. Local police commissioner N Manjunatha said the 19-year-old woman’s relatives were angered by the couple’s marriage.

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.

Local police commissioner N Manjunatha

The woman is recovering at a local hospital and police are searching for her uncle in connection with the attack, he said. 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. Thevars are a dominant community in Tamil Nadu while Dalits, formerly known as untouchables, are a historically marginalised community. India has long witnessed so-called honour killings, where couples are targeted because their families or communities disapprove of their relationships over caste or religion.

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