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Honor Killing: Indian Student Hacked To Death With Sickles, Wife Critically Injured

By Angela Woods
Published on: 10:57 PST, Mar 14, 2016

In the story of a love affair turned tragic, an honor killing has claimed the life of a 22-year-old engineering student and left his 19-year-old wife severely injured from the attack. Shankar, a member of the Dalit case in India, married Kousalya, a member of the upper Thevar Hindu caste, over the objections of her family in 2015. The family continued to remain angry over the marriage, as they saw it as a sign of dishonor that she would marry down from her caste class. The killing occurred in broad daylight around 3 p.m. on a busy commercial street in Tamil Nadu state on Sunday.

According to Yahoo News, witnesses describe the attackers as three men with sickles and sharp weapons. It is believed that her uncle is connected with the attack, and police are currently searching for him. CCTV and mobile phone footage show the couple walking down the street when three men approach them on a motorbike and begin attacking them.

The couple had left their home that day to go on a shopping trip, reports The New Indian Express. The murderers hacked them with sickles as they neared a local bus terminal. Bystanders who tried to save the couple and prevent the three men from leaving the scene of the crime were also attacked.

The two were rushed to Udumalaipettai General Hospital and were later transferred to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital. Shankar died en route. Kousalya is still presently undergoing treatment for her injuries and remains in critical condition.

The Telegraph confirms that Shankar suffered multiple injuries as a cause of death, including a deep sickle gash wound to his neck. Kausalya has severe head injuries.

An honor killing was immediately suspected due to the hostility that continued to flow towards the couple from Kausalya’s family. A few weeks prior to the attack, she had filed a police report against her father who had allegedly threatened both her and her husband and had insisted that she return home. Her father willingly submitted himself to police interrogation but denied any involvement in the attack on the couple.

India has a long history of honor killings. United Nations statistics report that roughly 1,000 out of 5,000 such killings a year occur in India. The killings had become so prevalent over the years that the India Supreme Court made a ruling in 2011 that those connected with honor killings should face the death penalty.

Shankar’s caste is the lowest in the Indian hierarchy and Kousalya was from an upper, very politically connected caste. Police commissioner N Manjunatha explained the suspected motive for the honor killing to the media.

“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.”

All police check posts local to the area have been alerted to be on the lookout for the suspects and three special teams have been formed to apprehend them.

The couple met and fell in love at a private engineering college in Pollachi.

Indian honor killings typically occur when a couple’s family or community do not approve of their union, according to Yahoo News, particularly as it relates to some aspect of religion or caste. They are most frequently carried out in the northern region of India, mainly in rural areas. To those who carry out such killings it is a matter of family reputation and pride, and they see it as their duty to restore an honor that they feel has been lost.

In a more in-depth explanation of India’s caste system, a study published in the International Research Journal of Social Sciences describes it as rigidly inflexible with the expectation that Indians are not expected to marry outside of their caste.

[Image via Shutterstock]

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