Report exposes network against inter-caste love

Chennai: A fact-finding report by Intellectual Circle for Dalit Actions (ICDA) on the murder of a Dalit engineer in Namakkal has said there exists an informal network of informants to crackdown on inter-caste love affairs.The fact-finding team comprising academicians and writers alleged that the 23-year-old Gokulraj was a victim of meticulously planned ‘cold-blooded  honour killing’ by members of Dheeran Chinnamalai Peravai to send out a clear message to Dalits.

The panel dismissed the claim that Gokulraj was kidnapped and murdered after being spotted with a caste Hindu girl Swathi.“From our conversation with  members of the victim’s family there is adequate evidence to prove that both Swathi and Gokulraj were in relationship. In fact, Gokulraj had very recently, about a week ago, bought a diamond ring on instalment basis. This leads us to believe that both Gokul and Swathi were planning to get married soon,” they said.

The report alleged that the Tiruchengode police had been investigating the case in  a sloppy manner despite knowing past history of Yuvaraj, who is the prime accused in the murder. He was involved in moral policing, and was also part of a campaign against inter-caste marriages to prevent girls from his community of Kongu Vellala Gounders marrying boys of other castes, particularly Dalits.

“This helped him gain access to his community students in various colleges within the Kongu region. By doing so, he built a network and solicited information about relationships if any between Dalit boys and Kongu Vellala girls. As a person who reflected the caste majoritarian psyche in this region, Yuvaraj gained acceptance as a caste mafia and someone who could keep their caste pride intact,” the report said.

“Yuvaraj, to send a symbolic message across has orchestrated Gokulraj’s murder and strewn the body on the railway track, thus replicating Ilavarasan’s murder as a brutal reminder to Dalits involving in inter-caste relationships,” the report claimed. Besides, Yuvaraj was also the muscle man behind the exit of Perumal Murugan from the literary world.

C. Lakshmanan, who was a part of the fact-finding mission and assistant professor, Madras Institute of Development Studies, said they had demanded CBI inquiry into the murder of Gokulraj.   “From the beginning, the police are refusing to act in the case. When Gokul’s mother and brother tried to file a complaint of man missing on July 23 night, police refused to register a case. Had it not been for the recorded conversation of Swathi, temple’s CCTV footage and post-mortem report confirming murder, the police would have closed the case as one of suicide,” he said.