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In 1 of the astir sinister crimes successful the twelvemonth drafting to a close, 19-year-old Manya Vivekananda Doddamani was lethally attacked by her begetter and his supporters astatine Inam Veerapur colony successful Dharwad territory successful northbound Karnataka connected December 21, 2025. The grievously injured woman, joined a fewer months agone and pregnant, died successful the hospital.
What provoked the onslaught was the matrimony of an “upper” caste pistillate to a “lower” caste man, thereby bringing “dishonour” to her household and clan. Manya (née Manya Patil) was a Lingayat, and her determination to wed a Madiga (Scheduled Caste) antheral had incurred the family’s wrath.
The mates had joined successful May contempt beardown opposition. The tahsildar and the constabulary had intervened, calling some families for a truce. The constabulary registered a lawsuit arsenic a precautionary measure. Perceiving threat, the mates had shifted to neighbouring Haveri. However, assuming that tempers had cooled, a large Manya and her hubby had returned to her autochthonal colony successful December lone to larn successful the astir tragic mode that they were wrong.
Manya’s father, Prakashgouda Patil, and 5 co-accused are present successful custody, portion the constabulary are connected the lookout for the others among the 15 accused. Two constabulary unit and a panchayat improvement serviceman person been suspended for dereliction of duty. Manya’s hubby and in-laws besides sustained injuries successful the onslaught and are present recovering.
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Though determination is nary segregated information connected “honour” killings for 2025 successful Karnataka, determination were immoderate wide reported cases. In August, 52-year-old Shankar Kollur was arrested from Melakunda colony successful Kalaburagi territory for allegedly murdering his 18-year-old daughter, Kavita. A nursing pupil from the Lingayat community, she was successful emotion with a Kuruba boy.
In February, the decease of a 21-year-old woman, from the Kuruba caste, by drowning successful Harohalli connected the outskirts of Bengaluru was flagged by her boyfriend, a Naidu, arsenic “honour” killing, though the constabulary recorded it arsenic an accident.
In January, a territory tribunal successful Gadag successful northbound Karnataka sentenced 4 men to decease for murdering an inter-caste mates — Gangamma Rathod from the Lambani assemblage (‘touchable’ SC) and her hubby Ramesh Madar, from the Madiga assemblage (SC ‘Left’) — successful 2019. The circumstances starring to the decease were akin to Manya’s. The mates had joined successful 2017 contempt the family’s absorption and near their autochthonal colony Lakkalakatti successful Gadag district. They had returned nether the mendacious conception that aged wounds had healed.
Even though bluish States specified arsenic Haryana, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh typically deed headlines for “honour” killings, “progressive” States specified arsenic Karnataka are intelligibly not supra specified crimes. In a insubstantial titled, “In the sanction of ‘Honour’” published successful 2024, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties-Karnataka recorded 13 cases of “honour” attacks from January-2022 to December-2023 wherever 12 radical were murdered. “These killings person taken spot successful 7 districts crossed Karnataka. Each lawsuit is simply a shocking reminder of the brutal lengths that radical person gone to reason inter-caste and inter-faith fraternising,” work the paper. “In astir of the killings successful 2022-23, the unfortunate was a pistillate belonging to the much ascendant community. The perpetrators were men successful her family.”
Since the incidental successful Veerapur colony earlier this month, determination person been protests by Dalit and different progressive organisations. One of their main demands is simply a abstracted instrumentality to tackle “honour” crimes and sanction it aft Manya. In the caller wintertime league of the Legislature, Karnataka passed the Karnataka Protection of People from Social Boycott (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Bill, 2025, for preventing societal boycott and favoritism by caste oregon assemblage panchayats.
While determination are provisions successful existing laws to forestall caste-related violence, it could beryllium argued that peculiar laws adhd different furniture of fortification. But specified fortifications are not hard to breach arsenic agelong arsenic caste hierarchies and notions of caste superiority person societal acceptance. One of the arguments against the caste survey successful Karnataka (and elsewhere successful India arsenic well) by the “upper” castes has been that specified an workout resurrects archaic practices that person nary currency successful Viksit Bharat. Manya’s decease is simply a tragically eloquent grounds to the fallacy of this argument.
