Dalit Discrimination: Father threatened after son marries upper caste girl

Karnataka: Honour killing for inter-caste marriages is not something new we hear, with a recent killing of a lower caste boy in a field for marrying an upper caste girl to yet another incident from Karnataka where the couple is supposedly missing after their year-old marriage was revealed in the communities.

Dalit Family of the ‘lower caste’ boy Chetan Nayak, 25 hailing from Hosahalli-Haluvarthi of Davangere taluk have reported abuse and assault after his marriage with the 19 yr-old Veena ‘upper caste’ year old marriage was revealed in the village.

The couple supposedly got married a year ago at Honnalli Registrar’s office without informing their families. Their marriage came to light three days ago after the couple went missing.

Veena’s family have allegedly physically attacked Chetan’s father Ravi Kumar on Saturday along with the local residents. The family has allegedly warned that children of the Dalit families will not be entitled to any of the services like schools, buying milk, traveling in buses or to collect water from the wells.

Chetan’s’ father Ravi Kumar who was injured in the attack said to The Hindu that, “On Saturday night, a group of youth chased and attacked me near Halvarthi village when I had gone out to get food from a dhaba. They warned me of dire consequences if Veena did not return home immediately.”

He also said he was confined in a room for about two hours by this group until the Police arrived.

A case has been filed and one person Shridhar had been arrested said Davengere Superintendent of Police Bhimashankar Guled. He also said no such restrictions were imposed on the Dalit’s by the villagers whereas the whereabouts of the couple is still unknown, Justice News reported.