On Friday, 24-year-old Perumalla Pranay Kumar was thrashed to death in broad daylight by an unidentified assailant hired by Maruthi Rao. Rao is the father of Amrutha Varshini, who married Pranay against his will.

Pranay was a Dalit from the Mala community in Miryalaguda, Telangana, which came across as the sole reason for Amrutha’s father’s (belonging to Vaishya caste) opposition. The honor killing took place when the couple left a hospital where Amrutha had a routine consultation with her gynaecologist as she is five months pregnant with their baby.

The family is devastated by the alleged murder of Pranay by Rao but 21-year-old Amrutha is facing the situation with a brave heart and is determined to fight for justice and stand against her father. “How can someone be killed for loving and marrying as per their choice? Who gave him (her father) the right to kill Pranay?” she asks, talking to The News Minute (TNM). “We can uproot caste system only through inter-caste marriages and by encouraging such marriages. It should happen the way BR Ambedkar envisioned it and we must challenge the brutal and inhuman caste system,” she added.

Amrutha wants to uproot casteism from our society. “I will fight till the end to get justice for Pranay. He always said that caste differences among people should end and casteism should go. There should never be a situation where a person faces difficulties because of their caste. That is what I will fight for now,” she said.

While the murder has sparked outrage all across Telangana and social media, there is also a section of society who thinks that Pranay being killed is justified as he must have married Amrutha because her father was rich.

Responding to this, Amrutha said, “Even though the brutal murder was caught on camera and went viral, there are several people who are justifying it. How can human beings make such comments? This only shows that there are many terrible people in society like my father, who continue to support his casteist intentions.”

“The reason for this murder is only casteism. When such kinds of murders take place, the legal system is weak and it may take up to 5 to 10 years to get justice. I demand that the punishment should be strong and swift. Separate fast-track courts must be established to tackle such cases,” she added.

Amrutha, after the death of her husband, has decided to stay with Pranay’s family and has vowed to never go back to her parents. “If I have a reason to live and meaning to life now, it is only my baby. I will see Pranay in the child and live the rest of my life. I will raise our child,” Amrutha stated.

The police have reportedly detained Amrutha’s father Maruthi Rao, her uncle Shravan Kumar and a few others in the case. Maruthi Rao allegedly paid Rs 10 lakh to the hired killer and the police are expected to hold a press meet soon to reveal further details about the investigation.

Amrutha also created a page on Facebook titled ‘Justice for Pranay’ on Monday to get the support of maximum people to fight the case. The page, soon after being created, had about 6,000 followers that went up to 16,000 in the next few hours.

H/T: The News Minute