Honour Killing In Rajasthan: Woman Burnt Alive By Brothers For Marrying Outside Her Caste

Representational Image: thenewstribe nst

The harrowing honour killing took place in Pachlasa Chhota village in Rajasthan’s Dungarpur district around 11:00 pm on 4th March. Rameshwari Devi alias Ramo, aged about 27, was a Rajput who had married Prakash Sevak, a Brahmin about 8 years ago. She had earlier been married to a person from a nearby village belonging to her caste. One year into the marriage, she eloped with Prakash Sevak who lived in her village.

Since then they had been living outside their village. Rameshwari came to meet her in-laws with her three-year-old daughter on 3rd March. The next day the mother-in-law, Kalavati, her younger son and daughter-in-law, and Rameshwari were sitting in their compound. At that time, Rameshwari’s brother, Lakshman barged inside with 28-30 men from the village.

They reportedly dragged Rameshwari Devi to the village square, poured kerosene on her and set her ablaze near the temple. When Kalavati tried to intervene, she was beaten up, too. Besides Lakshman Singh, some of the others involved were Parveen Singh, Kalyan Singh, Ishwar Singh, Mahendra Singh, Bhupal Singh and Gejndra Singh. The villagers reportedly did not intervene. They even tried to cremate her the same day in order to erase any evidence, but were stopped by the police.

They had been informed about the incident via a phone call on the night of March 4th, according to Ravi Shankar, ASI at Aspur police station. That was when they reached the spot and intervened. Investigation is being carried on since then. By now the police have arrested seven men, including the victim’s brother and cousins. Enquiry is on to apprehend another 20 men or so.

The Logical Indian community strongly condemns such brazen murders in the name of honour! The woman might have been married earlier against her wishes. If she chose to marry another person whom she loved, then alternative steps could have been taken for divorce. Her wishes should have been respected. The honour killing to which she was subjected remains a scourge on our social set-up. We appreciate the police for arresting 7 men already and hope that they are able to pin down the rest as soon as possible.