Honour Killing in Tamil Nadu: Parents Arrested for Allegedly Killing Daughter for Marrying Dalit Youth

A 50-year-old man, P. Perumal, and his wife, Roja (45), were arrested in Tamil Nadu’s Thanjavur district in a suspected case of honor killing. They are accused of killing their 19-year-old daughter, Iswarya, who had married a Dalit youth named Naveen. The couple was arrested by Vattathikkottai police, and a police inspector, Murugaiah, was suspended following a complaint that he handed Iswarya to her parents without considering the consequences.

Iswarya and Naveen had fallen in love during school, later working together in a hosiery factory in Tirupur district. They got married in a local temple, but the marriage was not legally sanctified.

After filing a missing persons complaint, Iswarya’s parents retrieved her from Tiruppur, leading to a tragic end. Perumal is accused of assaulting Iswarya, who succumbed to her injuries, and the family staged it as a suicide. The police investigation revealed the murder, resulting in the arrests.