Justice Delayed and Denied: The Pranay Amrutha case

Miryalaguda:The tragic story of Pranay and Amrutha continues to tug at the heart strings of the people of the state. A hope that Amrutha and her unborn child gets justice and the killers are put behind bars, remains. Pranay, a young Dalit , was hacked to death in a horrific case of caste-killing in September this year. The incident left everyone shocked that this kind of honour killing was still prevalent in the state. The murder was planned by Amrutha's father, Maruthi Rao, as he opposed the inter-caste marriage between Amrutha and Pranay. The High Court has taken serious note of this case and has denied bail to all the seven accused, including her father Maruthi Rao.

Meanwhile Amrutha and her supporters are moving heaven and earth to get Pranay's statue installed in a centre in Miryalaguda, to remind people about the incident and prevent such caste crimes in the future. Recently a Tamil Nadu couple had got a two-feet bust of Pranay made and sent to her. Pranay' s father Balaswamy made an attempt to install it but couldn't, as he didn't have necessary permission from the authorities to do so.

Some activists tried to lay a foundation for the statue, but the Miryalaguda municipal authorities stopped the work which irked the Dalit activists and a person by name Chinnam Venkata Ramana Rao, moved the High Court opposing the installation of the statue.

The Telangana Government had also informed the court that necessary permission had to be obtained as per orders issued by the Supreme Court on setting up statues in public places. The same was also conveyed to Pranya's father. After which the court dismissed the case leaving the statue in Amrutha''s residence since then.

Recently a magazine for the Dalits and the backward communities also featured the story of Pranay and Amrutha in their November issue to highlight the problems of inter-caste marriages and honour killing.

Unfortunately political parties are trying to gain mileage through this issue and are politicising the installation of Pranay's statue, much to the chagrin of the their supporters and activists. But then, this is not unusual in our country, and while in some instances political outfits try to milk such ghastly crimes to their advantage, at other times, crimes of this kind do not get the media attention they merit unless they are highlighted by political parties in a big way.

Also Read:Miryalaguda Should Have Pranay Statue: Amrutha