Overview
- The couple married in Hyderabad on September 9 and the next day relatives of the woman drove a tractor or excavator into the groom’s two-room native house in Repally, demolishing one room while the house was unoccupied.
- Gadwal police reached the scene, seized the vehicle used in the demolition and registered a criminal case that includes provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
- Authorities say those who carried out the demolition fled when police arrived and additional personnel were deployed to the village while protection was offered to the victim’s family.
- Local reporting identifies the man as Rangamuni, a driver from the Dalit community, and the woman as a college student from the Boya (BC) community, with police saying preliminary inquiries show family opposition to the inter-caste marriage.
- Property destruction after inter-caste unions is a known tactic of intimidation in parts of rural India and this case will be watched for whether police make arrests and whether prosecutors use the SC/ST Act to deter similar reprisals.