On the 28th of June 2017, 35-year-old Muthalagan was brutally murdered by being hacked to death by unknown assailants. 

Muthalagan, a Dalit right’s activists, had been advocating for the basic rights of Dalit castes in India’s rigid caste system that places individuals born into their caste in a social hierarchy. Central to Muthalagan’s activism was the right to inter-caste marriages and to push back against the prejudices and discrimination of his caste.  

Additionally, Muthalagan has been taking on the so-called illegal liquor Mafia in the region that is suspected to be central perpetrators in Muthalagan’s death.

Muthalagan’s case is unfortunately not unique as a local NGO Evidence suggests that investigations of Dalit murders are never impartial, and or improperly handled, demonstrating the urgent situation that Dalit rights activists find themselves in in India.