A 22-year-old woman from Telangana was allegedly killed by her parents for marrying a man from another caste. The shocking incident took place on December 22, but the matter came to the fore after her husband filed a complaint in the police station. The report came from Kalamadugu in Dandepalli Mandal areas of Mancherial district, Telangana, about 250 km away from Hyderabad, reported News18. Anuradha eloped and married Laxman in an Arya Samaj Temple in Hyderabad on December 3.
Parents killed and burnt her body
Reportedly, the police said that the woman’s parents along with her relatives killed her and burnt her body and threw the remains in a stream. Anuradha was a trainee teacher and belonged to a Yadava community, whereas, 25-year-old Laxman, was a BTech student and belonged to Padmashali community. The father took this extreme step as Anuradha’s husband belonged from a lower caste.
Anuradha and Laxman, both belonged to the same village and were in love. As Anuradha’s family was opposing the relationship, the couple fled to Hyderabad where they got married, said the police. When they came back to their village after 20 days, Anuradha’s parents attacked Laxman’s house and took her away with them. An investigation revealed that she was taken to a place near Mallapur village in Nirmal district where she was allegedly killed and burnt by her parents to destroy all the shreds of evidence, reported NDTV.
Eight accused arrested so far
Her father Sattenna and her mother Laxmi, have been arrested, were angry at their daughter for marrying a man from a so-called lower caste.
According to Mancherial DCP Venugopala Rao who is investigating in the case has said that the girl’s cousins, parental and maternal uncles have already been named in the FIR and have been taken in remand.
The police have arrested eight members of her family under IPC Section 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) for allegedly killing Anuradha, mainly her cousins named Swamy are responsible for her murder, said the police.
After marriage, the couple sought police protection
According to a report by The News Minute, the couple after returning to their village for the hearing of a case sought police protection. The case was regarding the complaint that Anuradha’s father had filed against Laxman for harassing his daughter. The couple was visiting Luxettipet court for the hearing of the case when her parents attacked the couple and took her away.
Police said that the woman’s parents waited for the police who was with the couple for their protection, to leave before they grabbed her. Later, Laxman tried seeking villagers’ help before he asked police to intervene in the matter.
Father and sarpanch responsible
Two days after Anuradha was allegedly killed by her parents, a video has come forward which she recorded on October 4. In the 1:44 minute video, she has explicitly mentioned that if anything happens to her, the police should hold her parents and sarpanch responsible.
She recorded the video as evidence for the police to save her and her partner. She has also mentioned in the video clip how she tried to convince her parents to let her marry Laxman, but they did not agree. Instead, her father forced her to file a harassment case against Laxman.
Although Kalamadugu Sarpanch, B Ramesh, whom Anuradha named in the video said that he has nothing to do with her murder. “I got involved in their feud once when the girl’s parents filed a case against the boy. This was the only instance where I got involved. They got married three months after this. I don’t know what happened later,” quoted TNM as Ramesh saying.
The Logical Indian Take
This wasn’t the first incident when a couple was attacked and killed for falling in love with someone who doesn’t belong to the same religion or community. According to a report by Times of India, in 2015, as many as 251 people died in the name of honour killings.
Recently, a similar incident took place in Telangana, where a guy named Perumalla Pranay was killed by his father-in-law in front of his pregnant wife. Not just the incident was shocking, but also, the kind of support the murderer got on Facebook for his act was shameful.
Incidents like these in India is ironic as the entire country enjoys Bollywood romance and worships Lord Radha and Krishna. What is even more ironic is that even though Supreme Court in 2006 had called such incidences as “Barbaric”, there is no such law to punish those who are found guilty in such murder cases. People are so blind in the beliefs of caste and religion that they have forgotten about the happiness of their loved ones. That’s what societal pressure and extreme religious beliefs do.
While some of the murders are committed by the family members to maintain their reputation in the eyes of the so-called society, others to induce fear in the coming generation.
The Logical Indian staunchly condemns such incidences and urges the government to take strict action against the accused to make a point that their pride and recognition is not as important as another human being’s life.
