Intercaste couple attacked by husband’s relatives after 28 years of marriage in Karnataka

Karnataka intercaste couple, who was married 28 years ago, was attacked by the relatives of the husband. The incident occurred on July 8 in Ron Taluk, roughly 385 km from Bengaluru.

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New Delhi: In yet another case of caste atrocities, a couple, who was married 28 years ago, was attacked by the relatives of the husband who reportedly belongs to the upper caste. The incident took place in Ron Taluk of Gadag district in Karnataka, which is 385 kilometres from Bengaluru on Thursday (July 8, 2021).

According to a report in a leading news portal, the woman, who was attacked, belonged to the Valmiki community which is classified as a scheduled tribe. 

“The incident occurred on July 8 in Ron Taluk, roughly 385km from Bengaluru. The husband’s relatives had gotten into a fight with the couple, and the wife was injured during the incident. On July 9, we booked a case under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (SC/ST Act). Further, the investigation is on,” the report quoted a police official from the district as saying. 

This shocking incident has come to light when the state has been witnessing an increase in atrocities against marginalized communities.

According to the government data, over 2,327 cases of murder, exploitation and other cases on members of the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) community have been recorded between April 1, 2020 and Match 31, 2021 in Karnataka. It can be deferred from the data that an increase of 54 percent has been seen in a year’s time. 

The National Crime Records Bureau states that these cases include incidents of murder, exploitation, burns and other crimes against the members of the marginalised community.

The Karnataka government’s data also reveals that there were 87 murders, 216 cases of exploitation, 2024 other instances and 3 incidents of fire between April 2020 and May 2021, and the state government has allocated around Rs 2842.38 lakhs as compensation for these crimes.