The police action followed a video of the ritual turning viral on social media and the state Women's Commission acting suo motu on it.
Representative image
A 48-year-old resident of Pallassana village in Kerala’s Palakkad district was arrested on Sunday, 2 July, for banging the heads of a newly married couple from behind without any warning.
The act was performed as part of continuing an obscure local practice that was said to have existed for a long time.
P Subhash is a relative of the bridegroom Sachin, and is facing charges of outraging a woman’s modesty and wilfully causing her hurt.
As per a video that went viral on social media, Subhash banged the heads of the couple from behind as soon as they entered the bridegroom’s house at the auspicious time — or Muhurtham — an hour after solemnising the marriage in a local temple on 26 June.
The bride, Sajila, was seen immediately expressing hurt because of the unexpected act.
Sajila shared the video on Instagram a day after the marriage, showing disapproval of the archaic notions still practised. More than 2 million people watched the video.
An image grab of the incident.
According to local human rights activists, what Subhash did was part of a village “tradition” to ensure the bride was unhappy while stepping into her “new home” for the first time.
No woman should enter her husband’s home happy, the custom mandates.
As the bride Sajila was a native of Mukkom in the Kozhikode district, she was unaware of the custom, and nobody told her about it in advance.
Banging together the heads of newlyweds continues to occur in Pallassana, located in the eastern parts of the Palakkad district.
The local community has hitherto turned a blind eye towards the custom that involves a physical assault on the bride.
After seeing the video in which the bride was visibly in pain, social media users across Kerala demanded stern action against the man responsible for the incident, which many feel poses a severe challenge to the reformist legacy of Kerala.
They called it a regressive custom and demanded corrective measures from the government.
When the social media outrage reached an inflection point, the state’s Women’s Commission suo motu registered a case in the incident and ordered a police investigation.
In the meantime, the bride gave interviews to local television channels saying she was clueless about the cruel custom and that she was pained severely by the unexpected attack.
She also said she vigorously opposed such regressive, anti-woman, and discriminative practices.
The bride wanted the practice to end immediately, and no other women to be subjected to it.
As directed by the Women’s Commission, a case was registered at the Kollengode Police Station, and an investigation was started, which resulted in the arrest.
Academic and women’s rights activist J Devika termed the incident barbaric and patriarchal, and lauded the Women’s Commission for directing the police to take stern action.
Sachin’s mother Geetha confirmed that there was a prevailing custom in Pallassana of gently touching the heads of both the groom and the bride. But she said what her relative did was cruel and a little too much.
She said that every family wished to see the bride enter the house happily, sporting a smile rather than in tears.
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