‘Agonising to see Tamil society engaging in internal conflict’: CM Stalin says will bring law against honour killings

“Based on those recommendations, the government of Tamil Nadu will take the necessary steps to enact an appropriate law to prevent honour killings,” Stalin told the Assembly.

The announcement followed appeals by several members of the House to address rising instances of caste and community-based killings of couples who marry across social lines. “That pain was expressed yesterday by many of our members in this very House. They pleaded that honour killings must be prevented by any means necessary,” Stalin said.

Stalin’s speech drew deeply from the ideological lineage of the Dravidian movement, situating the government’s move within a century-old struggle for social justice and equality.

Tracing the history of caste divisions, Stalin said occupational differences had been transformed into hierarchical identities by outsiders, and that reformist leaders — Ayothidasa Pandithar, Periyar, V Kalyanasundaram, Bharathidasan, and C N Annadurai — had fought to dismantle them through education and social reform.

“The Dravidian and pure Tamil movements replaced the importance once given to caste and religion with reverence for the Tamil language and Tamil identity,” Stalin said, adding, “We are proudly carrying forward that Dravidian Model government.”

He cited a string of social reforms under successive governments, from allowing people of all castes to become priests to renaming hostels as ‘Social Justice Hostels’ to eliminate caste markers.

Turning to the subject of honour killings, Stalin said recent incidents across India had “caused deep anguish”.
“The world is becoming a world of knowledge, but what prevents it from becoming a world of love? That is the question tormenting all those who think progressively,” he said, adding, “It is agonising to see Tamil society, respected globally for its intellect, engaging in internal conflicts at home. In a civilised society, no reason can justify killing another human being. Not just killing, even hating, humiliating, or hurting another person cannot be accepted.”

He also said that behind such crimes lay a patriarchal mindset that seeks to deny women the right to choose their partners.

Stalin noted that in all recent cases, the state had invoked the harshest legal provisions, including the Goondas Act, and directed the police that no perpetrator should escape punishment. But he stressed that punitive measures alone were not enough. “The campaign to create awareness against these cruel and regressive mindsets must not be left to social reform movements alone,” he said. “Political movements and public welfare organisations, too, must take part. The true mark of a civilised society lies not merely in economic development but in moral and social progress,” Stalin said.