Honour killing: Will keep fighting till all are punished, vows Kausalya

Tirupur: “It was worth the waiting. This will serve as a warning bell, a deterrent to those pursuing caste conflicts and honour killings”, said Kausalya, speaking to the media persons soon after the court pronounced verdict sentencing to death her father Chinnasamy and five others.

“I will appeal in the high court against the acquittal of Annalakshmi (her mother), Pandithurai (paternal uncle) and Prasannakumar. My legal battle will continue until they too are punished suitably”, she said, adding that the Tuesday verdict has “rendered justice for the blood shed by Shankar”.

The tough woman said she would stoutly contest if any of those convicted chose to appeal in the high court against their sentence.

Seeking protection to her and the family of her slain husband, Kausalya demanded a legislation to prevent recurrence of such “disgusting honour killings and instill fear among those trying to oppose  inter-caste marriages.”

Surviving the brutal aruval attack by the hired killers, despite a fractured skull and heavy loss of blood, Kausalya recovered from the wounds and the trauma of the brutal widowhood to emerge as a brave campaigner against caste oppression. And she remained, throughout the sensational trial in the special SC/ST court, the prosecution’s main stay despite family pressures, intimidation and threat of social stigma for staying loyal to the memory of her Dalit husband.

“My mother threatened me repeatedly that I will be killed, that she will kill me. She told me I was better off dead than be married to Sankar…My father was totally against this marriage”, Kausalya told the judge, who was taken through the shocking trail of evidence that her father Chinnasamy had left behind while he plotted the kill with his spouse Annalakshmi and brother-in-law Pandi Durai, and the hired killers.

Kausalya had described in a documentary titled Jaathigal Illayadi Pappa by Geetha Elangovan how both her parents pampered her with gifts and loved her much more than even her brother, before she revealed her love for Sankar to them. Hate for the lower caste had quickly dried up that love, she lamented.