‘Inter-caste couple eloping not a first in their families’

Villupuram: A day after violence rocked Anathur village in Villupuram district following the elopement of a dalit youth and a

vanniyar

girl, a fact-finding initiative by an NGO found that it was not the first such instance in their families as already, the youth’s elder brother had eloped with the girl’s sister nine years ago.

NGO Social Awareness Society for Youth (SASY) claimed that the couple Jayapradha and Thirumoorthi had secretly registered their marriage on January 7, and her family members who came to know about it, had tried to kill her by offering her a poison-laced drink, after which they had eloped on February 21.

Lalitha, an organiser at SASY, said, nine years back, Thirumoorthi’s elder brother and Jayapradha’s elder sister Sulochana eloped, solemnised their marriage and settled in Chennai. Though the girl’s family tried to separate them, they dealt with the issue legally with the help of police.

Against this backdrop, Thirumoorthi and Jayapradha, who were in a relationship for more than five years, registered their marriage at the Cuddalore registrar office on January 7 but were living with their respective families concealing their marriage.

Meanwhile, Jayapradha’s family members hatched a plan to kill her. However, Sulochana who came to know about it alerted her sister and saved her life. According to SASY, the attack on the dalit colony was an organised effort as the villagers conducted a meeting ahead and sent Whatsapp messages inviting fellow community members to attack the colony.

During the attack on Wednesday, the vanniyars had tried to destroy three houses, including Thirumoorthi’s and that of his two close relatives, by exploding an LPG cylinder. However, it was foiled. The mob had also misbehaved with a 17-year-old girl during the rampage, Lalitha claimed.

In a note to the state government, SASY demaded an enquiry by the RDO and Collector into the incident as well as a fine. It also sought attachment of properties of those involved in the attack and legal action against the accused who misbehaved with the girl.

Speaking to TOI, Lalitha said, “We have evidence regarding the incident and have sent the report to the CM's special cell.”Villupuram SP S Jayakumar said, “During investigation we came to know that already an elopement had taken place in the two families and enraged over the second incident, the vanniyars had made a planned attack. But, we don’t know about the attempt to kill Jayapradha.”