Tamil Nadu Timeline

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Dharmapuri caste violence

· Dharmapuri

Mobs burned Dalit homes in three villages near Dharmapuri after an inter-caste marriage.

On 7 November 2012 mobs set fire to over two hundred houses in the Dalit colonies of Natham, Anna Nagar and Kondampatti near Naikkankottai in Dharmapuri district. The violence followed the marriage of a Dalit youth, Ilavarasan, to a Vanniyar woman and the suicide of her father. Ilavarasan was later found dead beside a railway track in July 2013. The events drew national attention to caste opposition to inter-caste marriages in Tamil Nadu.

Related events

  1. 2000

    1. 2 Feb 2000DharmapuriLaw Justice

      Pleasant Stay verdict and the Dharmapuri bus burning

      Jayalalithaa was sentenced to a year's imprisonment in the Pleasant Stay hotel case; in the violence that followed, three agricultural students were burnt to death in a bus at Dharmapuri.

  2. 2004

    1. 18 Oct 2004DharmapuriLaw Justice

      Veerappan killed in Operation Cocoon

      The forest brigand Veerappan was killed by the Tamil Nadu Special Task Force near Dharmapuri, ending a decades-long manhunt.

  3. 2013

    1. 25 Apr 2013MarakkanamConflict

      Marakkanam caste violence

      At Marakkanam, PMK cadres heading to a Vanniyar youth festival clashed with Dalit villagers, setting off violence in the northern districts.

  4. 2015

    1. 23 Jun 2015TiruchengodeLaw Justice

      Murder of Dalit engineering student Gokulraj

      Dalit engineering student V. Gokulraj was abducted from a temple in Tiruchengode and murdered, in a case treated as an honour killing.

    2. 15 Aug 2015SankarapuramConflict

      Seshasamudram violence over a Dalit temple car procession

      A dominant-caste mob attacked the Dalit colony of Seshasamudram and burned a temple car on the eve of its procession.

  5. 2016

    1. 13 Mar 2016UdumalaipettaiLaw Justice

      Udumalaipettai honour killing of Shankar

      Dalit youth Shankar was hacked to death in a busy street in Udumalaipettai for marrying Kausalya, a woman from a dominant caste.

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