Separated from lover over caste, pregnant Kancheepuram teen kills self
The deceased was identified as Anushya (18), from Kottur village, who was a second-year CSE student in a private engineering college in Uthiramerur.
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CHENNAI: Tension in Kancheepuram as a college girl who was pregnant committed suicide after a 'kangaroo court' forced her to separate from her lover, citing caste reasons. The girl's family and villagers staged a road blockade for hours, demanding arrests of those responsible.
The deceased was identified as Anushya (18), from Kottur village, who was a second-year CSE student in a private engineering college in Uthiramerur.
Police said Anushya was in a relationship with Sanjay Kannan (21) of Kannanthangal village in Kancheepuram for the past three years. Recently, Anushya became pregnant and asked her boyfriend to marry her with his parents' permission, the police said.
However, Sanjay's parents opposed the marriage, citing caste differences, as Anushya belongs to a scheduled caste. Then Sanjay left the house and stayed with Anushya at her home in Kottur. Her family was making the arrangements for the wedding of the couple.
Meanwhile, the boy's family approached their relative Satya Viswanathan, who is the Panchayat president of Kannanthangal village. Then he, along with Kottur panchayat president Murugayan, held talks with Anushya's parents and ordered the couple to be separated, and Sanjay was sent home with his parents.
After the illegal panchayat decision, Sanjay severed contact with Anushya. Dejected by this, she died by suicide on Tuesday night. The Sunguvarchatram police, who visited the spot, sent the body for post-mortem to the Sriperumbudur GH.
Following the death of their daughter, the relatives and friends of Anushya gathered and protested by blocking the Edayarpakkam-Kottur Road on Thursday. They claimed that they will collect the body only after action is taken against Sanjay, his parents, and the two panchayat leaders.
The Sriperumbudur and Sunguvarchatram police who visited the spot held peace talks with the protestors and promised them that Sanjay has been missing now, and he will be arrested soon. Then, after nearly three hours of protest, the relatives accepted Anushya’s body for post-mortem, and gave up the protest.