Caste turns a gruesome killer in Hubballi

For every father, his kids are dear for he has lavished his love and affection on them, caring and bringing them up so that they grow into responsible human beings. Every kid cherishes his or her father’s love and remembers it even after they are long gone. But when a father turns his anger onto his loved daughter, murdering her all because she had dared to go against the diktats of his family and community and married someone from another caste, it points to something terribly wrong with our society. Has caste become so much an evil that it has wrecked the bonds between father and daughter to the point of no return and made a family murder their daughter in cold blood when she was pregnant?

It has happened in Hubballi and there is a strong possibility of such horrendous incidents happening again, unless those in power and civil society sit up and take stock of what has gone terribly wrong with our social mores. We live and function in a digital and AI age and strenuous efforts are on to bridge the divide between those who are technologically equipped and those who are not.  But when it comes to getting rid of the barriers in our minds and treating every human being sans prejudice, we still have a long way to go.

Caste and the barriers it imposes on every sphere of human life from our professions and marriages to daily chores like having our meals and drawing water from the village will, loom like an evil giant influencing our every act. The social revolution which our founding fathers including Mahatma Gandhi had dreamt, would happen along with economic progress, has sadly not occurred in large swathes in the country. Dalits are often dragged off and attacked severely for daring to cross the paths of the upper castes or for even picking up a cricket ball, as it happened in Patan in the state of Gujarat.

The liberal, secular and progressive society envisaged in the Constitution remains on paper all because neither our politicians nor leaders of society have done enough to obliterate  caste divisions or taken an aggressive stance against it. There is no doubt that they have vested interests in ensuring these caste divisions remain in force for they ensure their vote banks are intact when elections are round the corner. But shouldn’t they spare a thought for societal health and the plight of young men and women, who hardly have caste in their minds when they interact and maybe get married?

It should by now have become obvious to everyone in this country that caste is an artificial barrier which can be torn down if we have the political will and societal backing to do it. Could the gruesome Hubballi murder have been prevented if our leaders and law enforcement agencies had joined hands in time and come to the rescue of this hapless couple, who were targeted soon after their return to their native village? These are troubling questions which our leaders should ideally take time off to ponder over for a young life has bene lost all because she dared to marry the man she loved, defying all that came in her way.