Inter-caste marriage sparks violence in TN district

Close to 250 houses of Dalits were torched in three colonies of Dharmapuri district in Tamil Nadu after they were subject to riots following an inter-caste marriage.

The colonies Natham, Kondampatty and Anna Nagar were badly hit by the rioting that was sparked by the suicide of a man who felt humiliated after his daughter married a Dalit boy in secret.

A mob of over 2,000 reportedly set ablaze houses, looted valuables and indulged in violence in the wake of the incident.

Nagarajan ended his life at his residence in Sellankottai, not far from the Natham dalit colony, on Wednesday evening. He was deeply troubled after his daughter N Divya, 20, eloped with E Ilayaraja, 23 and got married at a temple on October 14.

News reports said Nagarajan hailed from the dominant Hindu community of Vanniars and could not bear the humiliation caused by the marriage.

IG (west zone) T P Sundaramoorthy told a leading news daily that the situation was brought under control after an additional 1,000 personnel were deployed and more than 90 people arrested. Cases had been registered against 210 others, he said.

The Tamil Nadu government has announced a compensation of Rs 50,000 to each family that lost its house and belongings.

Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said on Thursday that severe action would be taken against those responsible for the violence.

Meanwhile, the Madras high court on Friday directed the state government to furnish the entire details of the caste violence that unfolded on November 7.

"As the matter is serious in nature, we direct the special government pleader to file a counter giving the entire details of the incident and action taken by the administration, as well as the result of the investigation," a division bench of Chief Justice MY Eqbal and Justice TS Sivagnanam said.

The court also said that the investigation should be done by a police officer in the rank of deputy inspector general of police.