A man identified as Dhandapani allegedly killed his son and mother in Arunapathi village near Uthangarai after his son married a Dalit girl. The accused reportedly attacked his son and daughter-in-law with a knife while they were asleep, and his mother was also killed when she tried to intervene.

According to police reports, Dhandapani had returned to his village after working in a private company in Tirupur. “In the last week of March, Subash married a Dalit girl named Anusuya and left their home. The accused Dhandapani used to work in a private company in Tirupur and returned back to his village Arunapati on Friday. He asked his mother Kannammal to call Subhas and ask him to come home with his wife,” said the police. Subash and Anusuya came to Arunapathi on Friday and spent time with the family. However, in the early hours of Saturday, Dhandapani allegedly attacked his son and daughter-in-law with a knife, and his mother was killed when she tried to save her grandson. “After having dinner when everyone went to sleep, accused Dandapani allegedly attacked his son and his wife with a knife in the early hours of Saturday. He also allegedly attacked his mother who tried to save her grandson,” added the police.

After the attack, Dhandapani locked the house and fled the scene. “Further, after seeing Subash’s wife lying in a pool of blood on the side of the road in the early hours of Saturday, the villagers rushed all three of them to Uthangarai Government Hospital where Subash and Kannammal were declared brought dead by the doctors, while Anusuya is undergoing treatment in the intensive care unit,” said the police.

The bodies have been sent for postmortem, and a team of police led by Deputy Superintendent of Police Uthangarai Amala Advin is searching for Dhandapani, who is currently on the run.

Despite the legal prohibition on caste-based discrimination in India, caste endogamy, or the practice of marrying within one’s own caste, still persists in many parts of the country. The perpetuation of endogamous marriages often reinforces caste-based social hierarchies, which can result in discrimination and marginalization of lower-caste individuals