Chandrasekar, father of the sufferer, C. Kavin Selvaganesh, lives at Arumugamangalam, 25 km from the district headquarters of Thoothukudi, to care for his farmland. His household of three — spouse Tamilselvi, a instructor at Ananthamadan Pacheri close to Thoothukudi, and sons Kavin and Praveen — had moved to Thoothukudi. After finishing his SSLC at a faculty in Chidambara Nagar in Thoothukudi, Kavin moved to the next secondary college on Meelavittaan Road on the outskirts of the city. It was right here he met his classmate Subhashini, daughter of two Sub-Inspectors of police.
“They had been good mates since their schooldays, and caste was not so vital to them,” says Praveen.
Maturing into love
After Class XII, Kavin joined the B.E. Civil Engineering (2017-21) course at a non-public engineering school in Nalattinpudur close to Kovilpatti in Thoothukudi district. Meanwhile, Subhashini realised her dream of changing into a siddha physician by finding out in a Coimbatore-based non-public siddha medical school.
The couple remained in contact throughout their school days. After finishing his Civil Engineering diploma with a gold medal, Kavin joined a development agency in Coimbatore. Then, he switched to Information Technology, securing a job in a Chennai-based multinational firm with an enviable wage bundle.
Subhashini, whose dad and mom had by then moved from Thoothukudi to the neighbouring Tirunelveli, began practising siddha drugs at a non-public hospital at KTC Nagar in Palayamkottai. By this time, their friendship had developed into love.
When Kavin’s mom got here to find out about this, she cautioned him towards persevering with the affair as Subhashini is from a Most Backward Caste they usually belong to the Scheduled Castes, a union nobody from the lady’s facet would approve of. However, Kavin ignored the warning and continued his relationship.
The police mentioned that Subhashini’s youthful brother Surjith, a B.Com. graduate and athlete, had come to know in regards to the relationship on May 30 and knowledgeable his dad and mom Saravanan and Krishnakumari. The lady, the police added, denied that they had been in a relationship when her dad and mom questioned her.
One motive she hid her love was that Kavin had requested her to attend for six extra months as a result of he needed to maneuver additional up in his profession.
Kavin had shared his mom’s anxiousness with Subhashini and he or she had spoken to Tamilselvi on the cellphone to allay her fears. Yet, the mom’s worst worry got here true round 3 p.m. on July 27. That day, Tamilselvi’s father Muthumalai had suffered an harm on the top. Kavin had taken him to the hospital the place Subhashini works. Tamilselvi and his youthful brother accompanied them to the hospital, the place Subhashini defined to them in regards to the line of remedy to be adopted.
Meanwhile, as Kavin stepped outdoors, Surjith was ready for him. Both left the place on Surjith’s bike, Kavin on the pillion.
Only when the dialog between Subhashini and Tamilselvi ended, did they realise that Kavin was not there. Their repeated makes an attempt to contact him failed as he didn’t attend the calls.
Subhashini requested them to have lunch and guaranteed them that she would ship Kavin again house when he returned. However, he by no means returned.
Attacked with machete
The police mentioned Surjith had stopped the bike and hacked him with a machete. The sufferer’s kinfolk say Surjith, after sprinkling chilli powder on Kavin’s face, hacked him. With 4 sharp cuts touchdown on the neck and the top, Kavin died on the spot.
Passers-by and residents alerted the Palayamkottai police, who nabbed Surjith instantly. Besides Surjith, the First Information Report named Sub-Inspectors Saravanan and Krishnakumari because the second and third accused. Saravanan was arrested on the night time of July 30.
“Krishnakumari is but to be arrested. We have demanded the switch of this case to the CBI,” says advocate S.R. Ramachandran of Thoothukudi, who’s working with the household of the deceased.
While theories had been floated that Kavin and Subhashini had been simply mates, a couple of pictures have surfaced on social media exhibiting the bond between them. In a bid to place the hypothesis to relaxation, the lady launched a video wherein she unequivocally admitted that she was in love with Kavin. In the identical breath, she mentioned her dad and mom had been harmless they usually weren’t conscious of Surjith’s plan to homicide Kavin.
Shell-shocked: Arumugamangalam, situated close to the banks of the Tamirabharani in southern Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi district, is a sleepy hamlet. It has nearly 300 households. Its residents have been left in shock after the homicide of Kavin Selvaganesh. | Photo Credit: N. RAJESH
Leaders of caste outfits and caste-based political events are staging protests in assist of the bereaved household and demanding ‘Justice for Kavin’.
“This barbaric crime continues as there is no such thing as a draconian regulation to crush this evil. Since ‘caste killing’ is a nationwide situation, the Union authorities, consistent with the Supreme Court pointers, ought to enact a regulation with stringent provisions to eradicate murders of Scheduled Caste members by these of different communities within the title of caste,” says Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi chief and MP Thol. Thirumavalavan, who met the household on July 31 at Arumugamangalam. He additionally demanded the structure of a separate authorities company to stamp out caste killings.
The youth wing chief of Puthiya Thamizhagam, Ok. Shyam, the son of get together founder Ok. Krishnasamy, additionally bats for a regulation with extra stringent provisions to uproot caste killings. He urges the State authorities to not submit members of a specific most backward neighborhood, particularly as Collectors, Superintendents of Police, Deputy Superintendents of Police, and income officers.
“Since the Scheduled Castes are all the time on the receiving finish of the aggression of this specific neighborhood, the federal government shouldn’t submit officers of this caste within the already communally delicate southern Tamil Nadu, the place a number of caste clashes had occurred prior to now,” he says.
A. Kathir, govt director, Evidence, a Madurai-based NGO, says the latest caste killing is one other instance of how Tamil society has been embroiled within the system of graded inequality.
While different caste killings had been staged by folks with a conservative mindset, this one was dedicated by a teenager raised in an city surrounding, he provides.
Pointing to the complexity in such killings, he says these incidents occur even inside the similar castes. “When an individual of the Scheduled Caste or the Scheduled Tribe is the sufferer, the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act may very well be invoked, however what could be executed when the sufferer is from the Backward Class or the Most Backward Class, or the sufferer and the accused are each from the Scheduled Castes,” he asks.
He says that about 51 murders associated to caste violence have been registered between 2017 and 2025, and the conviction fee is lower than 1%.
‘Exclusive regulation wanted’
Stressing the necessity for an unique Act to cope with honour killings, associated to caste or gender or class, he says that after a yearlong research and analysis, a bunch of activists got here up with a draft for a particular Act, titled The Freedom of Marriage and Association and Prohibition of Crimes within the Name of Honour Act, 2022.
The framework was arrived at after the modus operandi and social construction and practices in each State had been analysed. This draft must be tabled in Parliament for dialogue, he identified.
“Chief Minister M.Ok. Stalin, when within the Opposition, promised that his authorities would go an Act to stop honour crimes, but it surely has not been executed up to now,” he provides.
In the meantime, if the rules laid down by the Supreme Court in Shakti Vahini vs Union of India had been adopted rigorously, these crimes may very well be prevented within the caste-ridden Tamil society, Mr. Kathir says.
In Kavin’s homicide, the Inspector who registered the case was from the identical neighborhood because the accused. “Though I don’t need to blame all the police division, for higher policing and regulation and order, police officers posted in a area shouldn’t be of the predominant caste there,” he provides.
Henri Tiphagne, human rights activist and govt director of People’s Watch, alleges that police personnel are among the many accused on this case; therefore, their arrest is being delayed. “Anyone concerned should be arrested instantly, and the case must be expedited to make sure swift punishment,” he provides.
