Compiled by JAROD LIM, BENJAMIN LEE and R. ARAVINTHAN
THE parents of a teen in India have been arrested on suspicion of burning the girl to death after she married outside her caste, Malaysia Nanban reported.
Three other people, including two girls aged 16 and 19, were also nabbed.
The tragic story in Tamil Nadu unfolded when P. Ishwarya, 19, who was from the Kallar community, married her ex-schoolmate B. Naveen, 19, about two weeks ago with their friends’ help, despite her family’s disapproval.
Naveen is from the Dalit community. Both communities are in the “backward” castes list but the Dalit is considered “lower” than the Kallar caste.
Shortly after the wedding, Ishwarya’s father filed a missing person’s report. Police then compelled the teen to return to her parents.
The next day, she was apparently burnt to death by her family.
The inspector who had forced the girl to return to her parents was suspended pending investigation.
The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a, it denotes a separate news item.
