Most Backward Classes family of cops kills SC man over love affair with their daughter: Read how Tamil Nadu has a disturbing record of caste-based murder, and no, it is not ‘Brahmins’

Caste-based violence and ‘honour killing’ have been a persistent issue in Tamil Nadu. In a recent case, a 27-year-old software engineer, Kavin Selva Ganesh, belonging to the Scheduled Caste, was hacked to death by the brother of his girlfriend, who belongs to the Most Backward Classes (MBC).

On 27th July 2025, the woman’s brother, S Surjith, allegedly attacked Kavin near the Siddha hospital in KTC Nagar, Tirunelveli. The woman, Subashini, works as a consultant. Surjith is the son of two police sub-inspectors, Saravanan and Krishnakumari. Named as co-accused in the FIR, Saravanan and Krishnakumari allegedly instigated the accused to attack the deceased victim. The duo also threatened Kavin, who worked at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in the past, over his relationship with their daughter.

Reports say that Kavin and Subashini have been in contact since their school days. However, the woman’s family was opposed to their relationship due to their caste differences. While the woman belongs to a Most Backward Classes (MBC), the victim and his family belong to a Scheduled Caste (SC). The deceased victim’s family has alleged that the co-accused had threatened them several times in the past.

Kavin went to KTC Nagar on Sunday to speak with Subashini about his grandfather’s failing health. Surjith allegedly went up to him there and claimed their parents wanted to talk to him. Trusting Surjith, Kavin then headed on a bike with him towards Astalakshmi Nagar.

However, as per the complainant and the deceased victim’s mother, S Tamizhselvi, the accused Surjith suddenly stopped the bike and confronted Kavin, asking him aggressively how the victim dared to love a girl from a different caste. Subsequently, the accused allegedly took out a sickle hidden on his back and attacked Kavin continuously.

As per eyewitnesses, a severely injured Kavin tried to flee the spot, however, Surjith chased him and hacked him to death. The Palayamkottai Police have arrested Surjith and his parents. The trio have been booked under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), in addition to the provisions from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 2015.

The deceased victim’s body has been sent for postmortem examination. The police have also found CCTV footage that serves as key evidence in the case.

The parents of the deceased victim have reportedly refused to accept his body until stringent legal action is taken against the co-accused police officers and the parents of the main accused, Surjith. “They objected to the relationship from the beginning and repeatedly harassed my son. Even now, they may use their positions to influence the case,” Tamizhselvi said in her complaint.

Meanwhile, locals are outraged over the incidents, and there have been protests in parts of Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi district, seeking justice and suspension of the accused police officers.

Beyond the façade of reforms and progressiveness, caste-based murders are a stark reality of Tamil Nadu, where calling casteism ‘Brahminism’ is a dishonest but politically convenient trend

Kavin Selva Ganesh’s killing is one of the many cases of caste-based murders in Tamil Nadu. These caste-based ‘honour killings’ remain a grim reality of the state. Often rooted in the rigid enforcement of caste endogamy, these cases expose the deep-seated casteism that festers across the various caste groups, not only in rural but also in semi-urban and urban areas of the state.

In Tamil Nadu, the narrative around casteism is often concocted by political parties that thrive on widening caste fault lines to divide Hindus, Periyarists who hate Hindus, especially the so-called ‘upper caste’ people like Brahmins, and the liberal cabal. While they collectively have framed casteism as ‘Brahminism’, equating caste oppression and discrimination with the ‘influence’ of Brahmins, the caste-based ‘honour’ killings in Tamil Nadu point to a pattern that defies the equivalence drawn between Brahminism and casteism and the idea that Brahminism is synonymous with casteism.

Even as the anti-Brahmin narrative around casteism is entrenched in Tamil Nadu’s socio-political discourse, far from being synonymous with Brahminism, casteism in Tamil Nadu often finds manifestation in violence and killings perpetrated by non-Brahmin castes, as seen in the case of Kavin Selva Ganesh, an SC man killed by a man belonging to the MBC group.

Caste-based conflicts and killings are rampant between backward castes and Dalits as well as within sub-castes. What fuels them further is the political environment of the state, certain regional political parties doing caste politics, exploiting caste ‘pride’ and divides.

Back in 2013, Ilavarasan, from the Pallar (SC) community, and Divya, from the Most Backward Classes (MBC) Vanniyar community, were found dead after their inter-caste marriage. The duo braved all odds, threats and the opposition from Divya’s family, and tied the knot after eloping from their houses. Their intercaste marriage triggered riots in Dharmapuri, MBC Vanniyars torching Dalit homes. In 2014, after a habeas corpus petition was filed by the mother of Divya, she returned to visit her mother and eventually stayed there. She also stated that she would not return to live with Ilavarasan.

Ilavarasan was later found dead on a railway track. While his death was eventually declared a suicide, his family reports and several activists suggested foul play, pointing to a possible honour killing. Local casteist political parties took sides and escalated tensions in the area at that time.

In a similar case from 2016, V Sankar, a Pallar Dalit youth, was hacked to death in broad daylight by individuals hired by the family of his wife Kausalya, who belonged to the Thevar (MBC) community in Udumalpet. The couple’s inter-caste marriage provoked Kausalya’s parents, who opposed their union. Kausalya somehow survived the attack and testified against her family in he court. Her testimony led to a 2017 lower court conviction of six people, including her father, Chinnasamy, sentenced to death. However, in 2020, the Madras High Court overturned most convictions. The case remains pending in the Supreme Court.

In 2020, a 24-year-old youth, M Sudhakar, who belonged to the Oddar caste (a sub-caste of MBC), was hacked to death by his girlfriend’s father, Moorthy and cousin Karthiravan, who belonged to Vanniyar (an MBC sub-caste). Sudhakar was murdered in the Thiruannamalai district of Tamil Nadu. Sudhakar’s killing sparked communal tensions in Arani Taluk.

In 2018, eight Dalit people belonging to the Pallar community were attacked with knives and sickles by members of the Agamudaiyar (MBC, part of the Thevar group) community in Kachanatham village during a temple festival. The violence stemmed from a dispute after a Dalit, Prabhakaran, was abused for allegedly not offering temple honours (Kalanji) of the Karuppanasamy Temple to the Agamudaiyar youths. Three Dalits—Arumugam, Shanmuganathan, and Chandrasekaran—were killed, and five others were severely injured. In this case, a special court in 2022 imposed life sentences on 27 convicts.

In the 2019 Varshini Priya (16) and K Kanagraj (22) case reported from Tamil Nadu’s Mettupalayam, an inter-caste couple, Varshini Priya (Arunthathiyar, a Dalit sub-caste) and Kanagaraj (Valayar MBC sub-caste), was killed over caste differences. In January 2025, Vinothkumar, the brother of K Kanagraj, was found guilty of murdering his brother and wife. Vinothkumar was booked under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The court acquitted three other accused in the case.

Kanagraj, a daily wage labourer, was in love with Varshini Priya, but his brother Vinothkumar, also a daily wage labourer, was opposed to their relationship. Vinoth and Kanagraj often quarrelled over this issue. Kanagraj then sought help from his father, Karrupswamy, who advised him to live separately for the time being and promised to arrange his marriage with Varshini Priya. Thus, Kanagraj and Varshini Priya moved to a rented house in 2019 in the Sri Rangarayan Odai area. After finding out about this, Vinothkumar conspired with his friends and three co-accused. In June 2019, they arrived at Kanagraj’s rented accommodation and attacked the couple with a sickle. While Kanagraj died on the spot, Varshini succumbed to her injuries two days later in a hospital.

In June 2024, a man named Azhagendran from the Arunthathiyar community was beheaded over his relationship with a woman named Rudrapriya from the Devandra Kulla Vellalar community. While both of them belonged to the Scheduled Caste (SC) group, Devandra Kulla Vellalars believe that they rank ‘higher’ in the caste hierarchy than Arunthathiyars. The deceased victim’s head was found buried separately on the bank of an irrigation tank nearby in the Kalligudi town in Tamil Nadu’s Madurai district.

Earlier, the couple reportedly tried to get married at a Murugan temple in Thiruparankundram; however, Rudrapriya’s family found out. They arrived at the temple and allegedly attacked Azhagendran and took the woman away.

One K. Kavita from the Gounder community was killed by her family in 2015 after she married M. Murugan, who belonged to the Scheduled Caste community.

In Theni, a woman named K. Prema from the Gounder community was killed by her family after she married a man from the Scheduled Caste community in 2010.

One of the most noted cases of caste-based honour killing was the 2003 Kannagi and Murugesan double murder case. Kannagi, a MBC Vanniyar, had married her lover Murugesa,n who was a Dalit and a chemical engineer. The duo hailed from the Puthukkooraippettai village in Tamil Nadu’s Cuddalore district. The inter-caste couple got married on 5th May 2003 against the wishes of the girl’s family.

The two were murdered in the most horrific manner as they were forced to drink poison in broad daylight on 7th July 2003 by Kannagi’s brother, Maruthupandian and other family members. Their bodies were later burned. As Murugesan’s father alleged a shoddy investigation in the case, the Madras High Court handed the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

In this case, a Cuddalore special court sentenced Maruthupandian to death and sentenced life imprisonment to a serving inspector and a retired DSP and 10 others. Eventually, the Madras High Court commuted Maruthupandian’s death sentence to life imprisonment and sentenced Kannagi’s father, C Duraisamy and 8 others. In April 2025, the Supreme Court dismissed the plea moved by the convicts against the high court order and upheld their sentences.

Notably, in his 2022 research journal titled: Analysis of Caste-Based Honour Killings with Special Reference to Tamil Nadu, advocate Kavin Castro states that beyond the ‘upper caste vs lower caste’ honour killings, such crimes take place even across the sub-castes of Dalits, MBCs and BCs. The journal states that the concept of graded inequality in the caste hierarchy remains relevant, along with the preservation of family property, caste purity and family honour.

Conclusion

From Kannagi and Murugesan’s brutal killing to Kavin Selva Ganesh, honour killing with non-Brahmin or the sub-castes of Dalits, MBCs, and BCs is prevalent in Tamil Nadu. The cases discussed above are just a few of the numerous such incidents reported in the state over the past few years. Many such cases go unreported. The caste dynamics in these cases indicate that, unlike the narrative pushed by the usual suspects, casteism is not solely a product of supposed ‘Brahmin supremacist’ influence. Rather, it is a broader societal issue perpetuated by various caste groups forcing their own supposed superiority, hierarchies and notions of ‘honour’.

While vilification of Brahmins as the sole enablers and perpetrators of casteism may serve a political purpose for Dravidian parties who yearn to eradicate Sanatan Dharma, the issue remains largely persistent and unaddressed. Many factors perpetuate casteism even within Dalit sub-castes, such as child marriage, caste-based housing segregation, economic disparities, caste-based pride and biases, caste-based politics and polarisation among others. Casteism and related violence and murders transcend the Brahmin-non-Brahmin binary narrative entrenched in the state’s socio-political discourse. Yet, Brahmins are made the scapegoats and vilified as the root cause of everything problematic about caste.

Using the terms casteism and Brahminism interchangeably is dishonest and sinister. If a Most Backward Class individual kills an SC person over caste, if an OBC threatens an SC person over an inter-caste relationship, if a Dalit Christian is attacked or discriminated against by non-Dalit Christians, it cannot be mindlessly called Brahminism, as most adherents of the ‘Dravidian’ ideology do.

It is like the outrageous notion of ‘good terrorism’ and ‘bad terrorism’, creating a narrative that casteism is bad when Brahmins are involved in it. In contrast, other manifestations of casteism displayed by non-Brahmins or by those belonging to Dalit sub-castes are not as bad or not worth the outrage and scrutiny that Brahmins and ‘Brahminism’ are subjected to.

The caste-based killings, exemplified by cases like Kavin Selva Ganesh’s murder and others, expose the fallacy of calling casteism ‘Brahminism. Caste-based honour killings and violence also involve people from caste groups dominant in their areas. Ironically, calling casteism Brahminism itself is a reflection of a casteist mindset.

News