Haryana: 25-Yr-Old Man Killed In The Name Of ‘Honour’ For Marrying A Dalit Woman

A 25-year-old youth from Hisar town of Haryana was stabbed six times on Saturday and succumbed to his injury on Wednesday.

Shyam Arora, the victim, belonged to the Punjabi community and had run away from home on 31 January 2017 to marry a Dalit girl, Sapna, against the wishes of both their families, reported The Indian Express.

Sapna’s brother, Sahil and maternal uncle, Pawan, along with one more, had gone to the couple’s house on Saturday for the first time after their wedding.

While Sapna was preparing tea, the trio stabbed Shyam. The doctors found six wounds of stabbing on his chest and Sapna was also injured when she tried to intervene.

Shyam was admitted to a private hospital and succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday.

“An FIR was filed by the man’s family and the main accused, Pawan and Sahil, have been arrested and put on remand,” said investigating officer Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Pawan Kumar, speaking to The Logical Indian. Shyam’s family claim that other families members of Sapna were also involved in the conspiracy and the probe is ongoing.

The Indian Express reported that according to police sources, Sahil and Pawan were against the marriage as the girl belongs to the Valmiki community. After tying the knot, the couple stayed out of town for four months and on their return, Shyam’s parents did not object to the marriage. During the investigation, the accused reportedly told the police that they were determined to kill them both ever since their return.

As per the police, the accused also bought a pistol from Uttar Pradesh but stabbed Shyam as the pistol did not work at the time of the crime. They committed the murder and ran away, after which, Sapna took her husband to the hospital with the help of her neighbours.

Reports claim that the couple had been receiving threats since their marriage earlier this year. The third accused has also been identified.

The Logical Indian take

Honour killings are still prevalent in the 21st century as a certain section of the society deems it their moral and legal right to hand out death sentences as it is a crime to disobey the stone-age rituals of prejudice, bigotry, narrow-mindedness and chauvinism.

It is disheartening that the rigid caste system which treats inter-caste marriage as a profanity amounting to punishment by torture or death continues to plague us.

It is noteworthy to mention here that honour killing is killing, and the word ‘honour’ plays no role here because there is no honour in murder.

The Logical Indian community strongly opposes killing in the name of honour, as nothing can be more shameful than murdering your loved ones. We hope that Shyam’s killers are brought to justice and strict legal action is taken against them.