Caste dynamics and related violence continues to shock us. Not only its prevalence in the year 2025, but its prevalence in castes traditionally considered underprivileged. The latest example is of a Aanchal Mamidwar from Nanded Maharashtra. Aanchal symbolically married the corpse of her boyfriend Saksham Tate, 20, after he was brutally k*lled by her own family in an alleged honor k*lling over caste differences.
Their three-year romance began innocently through Saksham’s friendship with Aanchal’s brother, but her father and brothers fiercely opposed it, issuing death threats that escalated into tragedy on November 27.
In a fit of rage, Aanchal’s brother Himesh shot Saksham in the ribs before smashing his head with a stone in broad daylight, as her father and another brother joined the assault—prompting swift arrests under murder and atrocity charges.
Defying her family’s betrayal, Aanchal arrived at Saksham’s funeral, applying turmeric to his forehead and sindoor to her hair in a tearful ritual, declaring, “Even in death, our love won—and I’ll remain his forever.”
