On 25 February, the Pallikaranai Police arrested five persons – Sharmila's elder brother Dinesh (23), Sriram (18), Stefen Kumar (24), Jothi Linga (25), and Vishnu Raj (25) – in connection with the incident.
(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)
(Trigger warning: Mentions of suicide, casteist violence. Reader discretion is advised.)
Two months after G Praveen, a 22-year-old Dalit man, was allegedly hacked to death by his brother-in-law and four others – in a suspected case of caste killing – his wife Sharmila died at a government hospital in Tamil Nadu's Chennai on Monday, 22 April, following an alleged suicide attempt.
According to Praveen's family, Sharmila, 21, allegedly attempted suicide on 14 April and was undergoing treatment at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai. She passed away at around 7:10 pm on Monday.
In a written complaint submitted to the Tambaram Commissioner just hours before Sharmila's death on 22 April, Chitra claimed that her daughter-in-law attempted suicide as she was "distressed" due to alleged police negligence and sought a CB-CID probe into Praveen's death.
In October 2023, Praveen, a car mechanic based in Chennai's Pallikaranai, and Sharmila, a fourth-year college student, had eloped and got married, as the latter's family disapproved of their inter-caste marriage.
While Praveen belonged to the Paraiyar caste, which comes under the Scheduled Caste (SC) category, Sharmila belonged to the Yadhava caste, which comes under Other Backward Class (OBC).
In October 2023, Praveen and Sharmila had eloped and got married, as the latter's family disapproved of their inter-caste marriage.
The accused were booked under Sections 302 (Murder) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 3(2)(V) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act). You can read more about the case here.
Speaking to The Quint then, Sharmila had said:
According to Praveen's family, Sharmila continued to live with them in Pallikaranai. She was unable to cope with the loss of her husband, they said.
According to Praveen's family members, Sharmila would often keep looking at Praveen's picture and say, "Why did they do this me? How could they kill my husband?"
However, the family said that things began to improve mid-March, and Sharmila was looking to get back to completing college.
According to Chitra, on 11 April, Sharmila and the family found out that two of the accused – Dinesh (Sharmila's brother) and Vishnu Raj – had applied for bail in the first week of April. Since then, Sharmila was allegedly distressed.
At around 4 pm on 14 April, Sharmila told Chitra that she was going to take a shower. But she allegedly locked the door and did not open for one hour, the family said, adding that this raised their suspicion.
After their wedding, Sharmila's parents allegedly threatened the couple and filed a police complaint against Praveen, she said.
The family immediately rushed her to a nearby private hospital in Pallikaranai. After her condition deteriorated, they shifted her to the government hospital on 15 April where she was undergoing treatment for a week.
In a written complaint to the Tambaram Police Commissioner, accessed by The Quint, Chitra claimed that when the two accused had applied for bail, the police did not inform the family that they could challenge the bail application. The police allegedly only delivered the court’s summon notice one day prior to the summoned date.
Denying allegations made by Praveen's family, a senior police official from Pallikaranai told The Quint that the written complaint was received – and that an investigation was underway.
An inconsolable Chitra, however, said all she wanted was justice for what had happened to Praveen and Sharmila.
(If you feel suicidal or know someone in distress, please reach out to them with kindness and call these numbers of local emergency services, helplines, and mental health NGOs.)
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