Caste crimes up in Telangana, activists raise the alarm

HYDERABAD: As 20-year-old Madhavi Chary battled through a marathon surgery on Thursday, a day after she was violently attacked by her father in broad daylight, discussions within social groups turned to a worrying trend fast becoming pronounced in Telangana – caste crimes
Referring to the string of events reported lately, they attributed this sudden rise in incidence of such crimes to a deadly concoction of multiple factors.An increase in number of inter-caste marriages, expansive reach of the social media and a rapidly growing ‘intolerant society’ fuelled by a “mute” political class.
‘Complete collapse of law reason for caste violence’
In large numbers, scholars, activists and students extended their support to the ‘Justice for Pranay’ campaign, launched by the Miryalaguda victim’s young wife Amrutha, and called for the government to frame a strict legislation to curb this menace.
“We have heard of at least 20 such crimes from across the state in the last four-five years, many of which have gone unreported. With the reach of social media expanding, these are now coming to the fore,” said social activist Prof Sujatha Surepally adding how marriages, especially among Dalit boys and upper caste girls, are on a visible rise now.
Her claim is substantiated by Ravi Kiran, president of Arya Samaj (Balkampet) who said that the 48 Arya Samaj branches in the city witness at least 150 inter-caste marriages every week. According to him, majority of them comprise couples between the ages of 18 and 24, from nearby districts of Hyderabad.
While Kiran refrained from elaborating on the reasons for the subsequent consequences that these couples are faced with, Surepally blamed the existing “political narrative”, which, she said, has “brought back feudalism” with a vengeance across the country.
“Crime against caste has increased in India in general. In Telangana, it has increased by at least 16-17 per cent,” she added.
In a similar thread, Kalpana Kannabiran, director of the Council for Social Development (Hyderabad), argued that the “complete collapse of the law”, courtesy the state of today’s mainstream politics, is what’s triggered these acts of violence. “The state has witnessed very successful inter-caste marriages in the past. We have had a history of very radical movements that have challenged patriarchy, feudal domination, social divisions. The rise in orthodoxy that we are seeing now is embedded in the right-wing politics that guarantees impunity to perpetrators of violence,” she said, expressing anguish over the recent attacks in the state.
“What’s happening now is not only about caste, it is about the society that we have become,” she added.
Stressing these “brazen murders” are a recent phenomenon, activist and writer Prof Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd alleged that the state’s record is fast becoming worse than that of Haryana.
“Yet, the government has maintained complete silence on the issue. Unless those in power speak up and design a law that promises to protect these people, such violent acts will not stop,” he said, demanding that an ‘Amrutha Law’ be conceptualised for those opting for inter-caste marriages.