A minor girl was found dead in Chittoor days after eloping with a Dalit teen, raising suspicions about the cause of her death. The parents of the girl, a 17-year-old from Reddlapalli village near Kuppam town, have claimed that she took her life on Saturday evening. However, with the family immediately cremating her body, civil society groups in the region have suspected foul play in her death.
According to Rallabudugur PS SHO Murali Mohan, the girl had been in a relationship with 19-year-old Nanda Kumar for about six months. The minor girl was from the Valmiki (BC) community, while Nanda Kumar, who lives in the Boddumudi hamlet close to Reddlapalli, belongs to the Mala (SC) community. Both of them were first-year degree students who went to a college in Kuppam. “Nearly 2 months back, the girl’s family had found out about their relationship and had even stopped her education. The two of them eloped on Friday and got married in a temple in Kuppam. On Saturday, Nanda Kumar’s father and a few other elders went and convinced them to separate as the girl was a minor,” said Murali Mohan.
After returning to their respective homes, the girl’s parents claim that on Saturday evening, they found that she had taken her own life. “The parents have said that they had to cremate her immediately, as the villagers believed that keeping an unmarried girl’s corpse was inauspicious for the village,” the SHO said.
Police have registered a case of suspicious death under CrPC section 174, as there is no circumstantial evidence or eyewitnesses, and the body has already been cremated. “We have booked a case based on an anonymous petition. The investigation is underway,” the police said.
In July, a 23-year-old woman called Hemavathi from the Kamma community was murdered in Chittoor district, barely a week after she had given birth to a child. Angered by the infant born from Hemavathi's marriage to a man from the Mala (SC) community, her family is alleged to have murdered her. Her body was found dumped in a well. Hemavathi's husband Kesavulu and human rights activists have alleged that she could have been saved if the police had responded to previous complaints that the couple had made. In another case in August, an 18-year-old was found charred to death under mysterious circumstances in Chittoor district’s Madanapalle. Reports had claimed that he was in a relationship with a woman from another caste, and was suspected to have been killed by her relatives. A few days ago, an inter-caste couple in Chittoor was attacked by the woman’s relatives, with a mob of nearly 200 people storming the SC colony where the couple was staying in Yerpedu.