When Kevin Joseph, a Dalit Christian man, was killed in 2018 by his wife Neenu's family (Latin christian), it was a huge shock, as caste-killing, until then, was a seemingly non-existent concept for many in Kerala. Two years later, another young man, 27-year-old Aneesh — fondly called Appu — was brutally murdered for marrying Haritha, a woman who belongs to a dominant caste (Pillai) and a family with higher economic status than him. But the latest caste-killing only sheds more light onto the deep-rooted caste system and socio-economic differences that persist in Kerala. One can sample this on combing through the social media platforms, where the reactions over the Aneesh’s death proved that it is not easy to free the state from this barbaric crime.
Many of the comments on Facebook were alarmingly in support of the accused — Prabhu Kumar, Haritha's father and Suresh, her uncle, both of whom were arrested for killing Aneesh. Many condoned the murder as 'fatherly emotions', justifying it as, “a father who went mad because he raised his daughter.”
The comments were almost redolent of the Pranay caste killing that took place in Telangana’s Nalgonda district on September 14, 2018. Pranay, who belonged to the Scheduled Castes, married his Amrutha, who was from the Komati caste, a non-Brahmin dominant caste in the Telugu states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Amrutha’s father Maruthi Rao was among the accused persons, arrested for allegedly paying Rs 1 crore to assassins to kill his daughter’s husband, Pranay. The young man was killed in broad daylight in front of his wife and mother, in a public space. Yet, many — upper-caste groups, Telugu media and social media users — defended caste-killing, terming Maruthi Rao’s act of masterminding the murder as ‘father’s love’. Some even labelled Amrutha as an “immoral woman” who had no concern for her parents and their “honour”.
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The social media comments in Aneesh’s case, too, were not any different.
"I am sad thinking about the father. How much he would have suffered on knowing that his dearest daughter started living with a penniless person," read a comment below a news article on Aneesh murder.
"A father who nurtured a daughter with love can do this act," justified another social media user on Facebook. "A loving father can go crazy because he was defeated by cheating," read another comment.
"Not justifying murder here. But the reality is that these guys never fall in love with a girl from their own community or their standard of living. Converted people should refrain from commenting on these issues because it is evident how people are converted in the name of love. First fix the discrimination and divisions in your own society," wrote another person. It goes on.
Ironically, many who justified the father who killed his daughter's husband claimed they were not justifying the murder but just “empathising” with the father and uncle.
Many were quick to reconstruct the narrative to blame the daughter, Haritha. "It is just because of the girl that one young man lost his life and two others ended up in jail," read a comment.
"The girl should have thought about it. She lived in luxury and she would fall into depression as that boy cannot provide all those facilities she enjoyed at her house. Then the marriage would have had violence and it would have fallen apart… there are many examples," another person passed his judgment in the case on social media.
"Love is just a joke. Most of these love marriages end up in divorce after the fun part is over. People just fake themselves to be someone they are not to catch the interest of the opposite sex [sic]. Reality reveals itself in weeks after the marriage," wrote another person.
There are those who think that Haritha should have been killed instead of the boy for “destroying the family”.
"Why can't they kill their own daughter instead of someone else's son. If they were pained over her act, she should be killed," said a comment.
"She should be punished, she was the one who cheated her father. She destroyed a family. She couldn't understand the pain of her father," wrote another person.
Aneesh, a painter from Thenkurissi in Palakkad, was stabbed to death on December 25 allegedly by Haritha’s father and uncle. The couple got married three months ago. However, Haritha’s family was reportedly against the wedding.
Such social media judgements, jubilation and celebration of accused in caste-killing are not new. Many like Gowsalya from Tamil Nadu are still relentlessly fighting the scourge of caste-killings, despite the judiciary delay and scathing criticisms on social media. When Gowsalya’s husband Sankar, a Dalit man, was brutally murdered in March 2016, many immediately took to social media to congratulate the murderers and even issue open threats.
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