Friendship was okay; with marriage, Vivekananda and Manya crossed a line. Says Vivekananda: “I dreamt that my child may some day play with Manya’s father. I never thought that caste could make a father kill his own daughter.”
Caste violence, even ‘honour killings’, are not new to Karnataka. However, the circumstances of Manya’s killing have shaken the state, prompting protests by Dalit organisations and condemnation by Lingayat groups, which held a ‘Repentance Day’.
Manya’s father Prakashgouda Patil and relatives Veeranagouda Patil and Arunagouda Patil are under arrest for her killing, charged for murder and under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
On January 4, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced a fast-track court for a speedy trial in the case, as well as appointment of a private prosecutor, to ensure there is no delay in trying the case. Siddaramaiah said his government would also discuss a special law to curb ‘honour killing’.
In Inam Veerapur village of Dharwad district, to which Vivekanand and Manya both belonged, the administration has stepped up security to guard against any fresh caste reprisals.
Dharwad SP Gunjan Arya said they have installed eight CCTV cameras and are monitoring them at the police station level. “Round-the-clock security has been provided to Vivekananda and his family and we held a peace meeting with villagers, in which they promised support to police. We have also spoken to a local seer to help bring harmony,” he told The Indian Express.
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Vivekananda, who is a final-year BA student, says he met and fell in love with Manya three years ago, when she was still in pre-university (she was enrolled in an engineering college when killed). A small village of approximately a hundred houses, Inam Veerapur is 60% Lingayat. Another 25% are STs belonging to the Talwar group, with only six houses of the Dalit Madiga community to which Vivekananda belongs.
“Being from the same village, we knew each other well,” says Vivekananda, referring to the family ties and his friendship with Manya. Growing up, he never witnessed any caste discrimination. So, when love blossomed, he proposed to Manya. “She accepted. But we could not meet often as it’s frowned upon in small villages like ours.”
They kept meeting in secret till a year ago, when Manya’s father Prakashgouda Patil came to know about their relationship and cracked down. “We did not want to get married so early as we were both studying. However, Manya’s family started looking for grooms for her and would not let her out of their sight. One day she managed to contact me and told me she could not take any more harassment,” he says.
They eloped and wed at a temple, and got their marriage registered. When Patil filed a missing person’s complaint, the couple appeared before police and said they were adults and had got married out of their own free will.
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Vivekananda says that even in front of police, Patil vowed that he would not let Manya be. “But we felt it was a normal reaction, made in the heat of the moment. I thought he would accept us as time passed by.”
After Manya was killed, two constables of the Hubballi Rural Police Station were suspended. SP Arya said they had been negligent, and “should have been aware” of the possibility of such an attack.
Vivekananda’s family says that after the marriage, the village stopped all interaction with them. The couple shifted to Haveri town, to a relative’s home, hoping their absence would cool tempers. Vivekananda started working at a shop.
Those were the few good days of their married life, he says. “Manya was very happy. No one from her family tried contacting her. When she got pregnant, we sent word, but they refused to budge… We then thought their anger would subside after she gave birth.”
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Since she got pregnant, the couple had been visiting Inam Veerapur every month for doctor visits at a nearby hospital. “We would stay for a day and leave,” Vivekananda says. On December 21, when Manya was killed, the two were in the village to update her Aadhaar card details. “The hospital had advised us to get my name added as her husband.”
Vivekananda was also scheduled to give a Railway Recruitment Board exam for ‘D Group’ Posts in Dharwad the next day.
Manya was at Vivekananda’s parents’ home when Patil and his relatives allegedly barged in. “It was around 5 pm, I was not there. I returned to find them attacking Manya as well as my parents and others. They chased me away, but Patil had by then ensured Manya would not survive,” Vivekananda says. His parents who were injured spent two days in hospital.
The irony, Vivekananda says, is that he is well-versed in Lingayat rituals. “I was given Linga Deeksha (an initiation in the Lingayat tradition) at a young age. In my family, we don’t eat non-vegetarian food as we follow the principles of Basavanna (the founder of Lingayat belief).”
