February 22, 2025

In north India, it is khap panchayats, in south, rich fathers. But the situation is the same all over India. Inter caste marriages are not tolerated. Love is considered rubbish and boys and girls are expected to marry as per the wishes of their families. A Dalit boy marrying an upper caste girl is considered a crime on his part. Retribution is often swift and deadly. Upper castes instantly feel the need to show him his place. The killing of Pranay outside the Jyothi Hospital in Miryalaguda is latest in line of such hate crimes. Pranay was hit with a machete and died after just two heavy blows. He had accompanied his pregnant wife to the hospital for a regular check-up. The act was caught on the hospital’s CCTV camera. The girl, Amrutha, has accused her family of the crime.

Those arrested in connection with the murder are Amrutha Varshini’s father Tirunagari Maruthi Rao, the alleged contract killer Subash Kumar alias Sharma from Bihar, Azgar Ali and Md Abdul Bari, both residents of Nalgonda town and suspected to have been involved in the case, Miryalaguda Town Congress president Abdul Kareem, Maruthi Rao’s brother Sravan Kumar and Samudrala Shiva, Maruthi Rao’s driver. It is being reported that the killing contract was struck at Rs 1crore. Subhash Kumar, the principal accused and the man identified as the one who wielded the machete, is a notorious contract killer. The accused have been booked for murder, abetment, criminal conspiracy, and also under Section 3 (2) of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act.

Amrutha Varshini’s father, Maruthi Rao, is a realtor. Pranay and Amrutha were in love since their school days and both were warned many times not to meet each other. Politicians were also said to be involved in putting pressure on Pranay and his family. When they ignored all threats and married, he considered it an affront to his position in society. After he came to know that Amrutha was pregnant, he tried his best to persuade her to abort the child. When all his plans failed, he hired Md Abdul Bari through the town’s Congressman and a transporter Abdul Kareem, who in turn hired Subhash Kumar to execute the killing.

The gruesome killing shows how Indian society has not come to terms with inter caste love and marriage. Things get murkier when one of the lovers is from the poorer sections of society. In Amrutha’s case, her rich father was willing to spend Rs 1crore to eliminate Pranay but was not ready to spend the same money to respect her daughter’s wish and raise the couple’s station in life. People who are blinded by caste, community, religious or wealth calculations have no regard for the life of other people. They feel that their face is blackened in society if their wards go out of line, so to say, in matters of love and marriage. They feel that their wealth is worthless if they do not take revenge. But is the result good? Is it good for Maruthi Rao, the Rao family, Amrutha or Pranay’s family? A young life was snuffed out; several people have been arrested and will be (?) convicted and jailed. But what will happen to Amrutha and her unborn child? Has her father brought her happiness with his vile decision?