A pregnant Dalit woman in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu was allegedly assaulted by her husband’s family on August 22 after she protested an attempt to induce an abortion. She was also allegedly subjected to caste discrimination and abused with casteist slurs while she stayed at her in-law's house. The Mathur police, on August 24, booked eight persons including her husband in the case. On August 26, the police arrested her husband.
Geetanjali, a Dalit woman who belongs to the Scheduled Caste (SC) Paraiyar community, is a native of Malaiyandahalli of Pochampalli taluk of Krishnagiri. A year ago, she married Siva, a Vanniyar (Most Backward Class), man who hails from Angampatti Sevathan Kottai in the same district. Vanniyars are a politically powerful intermediate caste in Tamil Nadu. When the couple met, Geetanjali was a final undergraduate student of Chemistry. She had allegedly been told by Siva that he was a manager at a private firm in Tiruppur.
According to Geetanjali, she had voiced her apprehensions about entering a relationship with Siva due to their different caste locations before the wedding, and had anticipated that it would later become a problem. Nevertheless, the couple got married before Geetanjali had given her final year exams and moved to Tiruppur, she told media persons on August 26.
Talking to TNM, Geetanjali’s father Murugan said that it was after she reached Tiruppur she came to know that Siva had lied to her about his job. “When they moved to Tiruppur, she found that he worked as a daily wage labour in a construction site” Murugan said. It was Murugan who arranged for the couple to move to Bengaluru to earn a better livelihood. After a few months, Geetanjali visited her hometown to sit for her final year exams.
“She was pregnant when she came to Krishnagiri. She stayed at her in-laws house and completed her exams. One day, she called us and said that she had a miscarriage,” Murugan recounted. Geetanjali’s family then admitted her in a private hospital and managed all the medical expenses.
“A week later, Siva's family convinced him that they would help him set up a brick kiln in his hometown and that he would no longer have to work in Bengaluru. However, when Siva and Geetanjali returned to Krishnagiri, they did not get any help from his family. During this time, Geetanjali had to face casteist slurs and discrimination by her in-laws. Meanwhile, Siva refused to go to work and stayed at home most of the time,” Murugan alleged.
According to the First Information Report (FIR), on August 22, when Siva’s family learned that she was pregnant a second time, they forced her to drink pineapple juice, in an attempt to induce an abortion. While consuming pineapple is commonly believed to induce abortions, the belief is not known to have a scientific basis. When she refused to do so, her in-laws assaulted her and used casteist slurs. Siva also assaulted her, saying that he was unwelcome in family functions and isolated by his community due to her caste location. “Siva even told Geetanjali that he would marry someone else from his community and asked Geetanjali to not come to his house anymore,” Murugan told TNM.
When Geetanjali told this to Murugan over the phone, he rushed to Siva’s house and admitted her to the Uthangarai Government Hospital. On August 23, she lodged a complaint at the Mathur Police Station against eight members of Siva’s family. The police booked a case under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 294 (b) (sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place), and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code.
Sections 3(1)(r) (intentionally insults or intimidates with intent to humiliate a SC/ST person), 3(1)(s) (abuses any member of a SC/ST by caste name), and 3(2)(va) (commits any offence against an SC/ST person or against the property of such person) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. While Siva was arrested on August 26, the seven others are currently on the run.