Government to appoint Special Public Prosecutors to expedite cases of violence related to inter-caste marriages
Legal processes should be speeded up to bring the culprits to book
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, on Tuesday, June 25, 2024, said instead of enacting a new legislation to prevent killings in connection with inter-caste marriages, it would be proper and better to speed up legal processes and bring culprits to book under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Indian Penal Code.
Responding to a calling attention motion in the Legislative Assembly on the recent attack on the office of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Tirunelveli for arranging an inter-caste marriage, the Chief Minister announced the appointment of Special Public Prosecutors to expedite cases related to crimes triggered by inter-caste marriages.
“As per the CrPC, a sub-inspector is to be the investigation officer in these cases. To accord importance to these cases, however, the government will seek legal opinions and appoint Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSPs) as investigation officers,” Mr. Stalin said.
In the Tirunelveli incident, he said, 14 persons, including seven women, were arrested and the women were released on bail. “There is prima facie evidence of a caste atrocity. Hence, the SC/ST Act has also been included in the case,” Mr. Stalin said.
The Chief Minister also agreed to review the functioning of the district level committees created to deal with the issues arising out of inter-caste marriages and to mitigate troubles.
Reiterating that the Dravidian movement was committed to social justice and had been supporting inter-caste marriages, women’s education and equality, he said ever since the DMK government assumed office in 2021, it had been monitoring and taking stringent actions against regressive social crimes and secured punishments in the court of law.
He also listed the cases, including the Gokulraj murder case in Namakkal, in which the culprits were awarded sentences by courts.
“We should not view them as just crimes. We should take into consideration the socio-economic factors behind these crimes. While we take steps to bring the culprits to book, such crimes will come down as the society achieves economic development, women’s education and growth in employment opportunity,” he said.
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