A Dalit family has lost its son. An upper caste Hindu family will live under the cloud of having masterminded the death of their own daughter and her husband. But the real victim in the Udumalpet honour killing is the 19-year old widow S. Kousalya.

Said to be recuperating from a head injury in the attack on Sunday, Kousalya has lost her life in spite of escaping from the jaws of death.

Having witnessed the most heinous sight of her husband V. Shankar (21) being hacked to death by a gang, the future of the 19-year old hangs in mid-air with both the families not willing to accept her back into the fold.

Taking into consideration that it was her father who set up men to kill her and her husband, it is anyone’s guess that she will not be accepted by her family. Also, there is very little possibility whether she would consider living with them.

On the other hand, based on the reactions of the family members of Shankar who were present at the CMCH, it was clear that they were not concerned about the girl’s condition having lost their own son in the attack.

Their lack of concern was only further fuelled by the fact that they were not allowed to take out their son’s mortal remains in a procession before the cremation. An attempt to do so was foiled by the police. It is understood that the police themselves tried to secretly cremate Shankar’s body. The family was forced to bury the body at nearly midnight of Tuesday.

One of Shankar’s relatives openly blamed the girl for getting the family into such a situation. “She is the one and only one behind all this,” cried one of the relatives of Shankar during his post mortem.

To add to the misery, Shankar was to have completed his education in PA College of Engineering and Technology and the duo were to move to Chennai as he had reportedly got a job with a Chennai-based firm. However, it wasn’t meant to be. The wife was not even allowed to see her husband’s face for one last time, according to activists.

Explaining the plight of Kousalya, P.K. Saru, a psychologist from Coimbatore, said that she would be extremely depressed and scared after the incident.

“Since she has witnessed the assault she would be traumatised and life after recovery would be very difficult. She will not be in a mental state to think anything since this incident would have drained her of her physical and mental strength,” she added.