Rohtak: 20- Year-Old Shoots Family Members For Opposing Homosexual Relationship

Abhishek Malik, a 20-year-old hailing from Rohtak in Haryana, shot three of his family members at his residence on August 27 due to their disapproval of his sexual orientation. Abhishek's father, a property dealer in Haryana, disapproved of his son's homosexual relationship and grounded him with no financial support. The father reportedly made his daughter the sole heiress of the family property after his son's sexual preferences were revealed.

The String of Events

Abhishek had finished eating breakfast with his father, mother and grandmother while his younger sister was asleep in her room.After breakfast, Abhishek slid into his sister's room, switched on the television and shot at his sister's head with his father's pistol. Then, he called his grandmother on the pretext of playing the guitar for her. When the 70-year-old Roshni Devi entered Abhishek's room, he shot her in the temple, causing instant death. After that, he went downstairs, and when his mother asked him about the septuagenarian, he pointed towards his room. He waited for her to enter his room to find the old lady in a pool of blood before shooting her.

After that, the 20-year-old went to his father, who was resting, oblivious to what had happened in the house. Then, Abhishek pulled out a gun from under him and pulled the trigger on his father. Later, he went to a motel where he called his uncle and expressed concern since his parents were not picking his call and he was 'concerned'. The Hindustan Times quoted Rohtak Deputy Superintendent of Police Gorakh Pal, saying that the accused had confessed to the murders and had planned for 20 days to make it look like a robbery.

Family Opposed Homosexual Relationship

He added, "The family had opposed his same-sex relationship and was planning to flee abroad after getting the money from his family. The family had called his grandmother to convince him against undergoing the gender-change surgery".

While the parents and the grandmother had died on the spot, his 19-year-old younger sister succumbed to bullet injuries two days later, and Abhishek was arrested on September 2. The Police said that they were holding counselling sessions for the accused to understand his thought process better. The homosexual couple had met during the airline cabin crew training and had fallen in love, following which, Abhishek decided to undergo sex-reassignment surgery.

Also Read: What Does September 6 Mean For The LGBTQ Community?