The killing of a Dalit youth, married to a high-caste girl, in Tamil Nadu is disturbing. No less disturbing is the widespread indifference to such honour killings in society at large. To ignore these brutal murders is to betray humanity. Hacking a young man to death, in the presence of his injured wife, in full public view on a busy road, as was done to V Shankar, is unfathomable.
Many regard inter-caste marriages involving Dalit men as unforgivable crimes. Concepts of family honour and the so-called purity of the gene pool are used to rationalise these macabre murders. All caste votaries have the blood of young Dalit men, murdered for being born into the ‘wrong' caste, on their hands.
Following these dreadful killings, society must recognise the inhumanity of the caste system. These caste-based murders vindicate and strengthen BR Ambedkar's case for the annihilation of caste.