TN: Dalit woman dumped after husband gets govt job

Pudukkottai: Marry a dalit girl, get a government job on the ‘inter-caste marriage’ quota, dump the wife and children citing her ‘low caste’ as reason and then look for another bride, who could bring in a fat dowry. This was the plan of Sathishkumar of Alangudi in Pudukottai district, which almost worked to design before his 33-year-old wife, Krishnaveni, put her foot down mid-way through the game.

Krishnaveni, hailing from Usilangulam, submitted a petition to the Pudukkottai collector on Monday, seeking his intervention after police refused to entertain her complaint but advised her to grant a divorce to her husband, who found it disgraceful to live with a ‘low caste’ woman. She had fallen in love with Sathishkumar when he was a driver of a private mini-bus and when she was a BBA student. They got married in 2000, after which Krishnaveni dropped out of college and lived with him at a house in Alangudi and had three children — two girls and a boy.

The marriage was registered in 2005 as Sathishkumar was keen on an ‘inter-caste marriage’ certificate, which entails those marrying Dalits to get jobs in the government under a special quota. In 2009, he was appointed as driver in the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation under the ‘inter-caste marriage’ quota.

His plan: marry a dalit girl, get a government job on the 'inter-caste marriage' quota and then dump the wife.

Soon after landing the government job, Sathishkumar’s attitude towards the family changed, alleges Krishnaveni. Within a year, his visits to the house decreased and he started spending more time with his parents. Apart from getting the ‘inter-caste marriage’ certificate, Sathishkumar did nothing for the family, says Krishnaveni, pointing out that he did not obtain a ration card or community certificate for the children.

In the last two months, things took a turn for the worse as he was hell-bent on marrying another woman from his caste as his government employee status would fetch him a good dowry, claims Krishnaveni. Not only his family members and friends were putting pressure on her to grant a mutual divorce, even police at the Alangudi All Women Police Station, which she had approached five times, wanted her to leave him.

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