The Madras High Court Tuesday asked the Tamil Nadu government to ensure safety of the inter-caste couples by starting a 24-hour helpline and setting up special cell in every district to probe the complaints filed by them.
The court issued the instructions at the hearing of a case related to honour killings in the state. In the past three years, as many as 81 cases of honour killings have been reported in Tamil Nadu, according to a story by NDTV.
The J Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK government has also been asked to set up safe and short-stay homes for the couples facing wrath of the society for marrying outside their castes. The court has also asked the government to counsel parents who are against inter-caste marriages.
At the hearing, the court also instructed the police to take action against policemen responsible for "shoddy investigation" into Vimala Devi's death. Devi, who belonged to the Thevar caste, was allegedly killed by her parents for marrying a Dalit, Dileep Kumar, in 2014.
Her parents had claimed she committed suicide. A case was later registered by Kumar and transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation on the orders of the high court.
