Telengana couple hacked to death in the name of family honour

India is yet to have a specific law for dealing with honour killing. The clarity is absent and law enforcement agencies have to look for various provisions in the penal code for booking suspects. In a recent case, a young couple in Telengana have been brutally hacked in a case of alleged honour killing. The accused here are the girl’s maternal uncles who are residents of Siricilla district of Telangana. It was after they got married on Thursday that this gruesome incident has taken place. All be because the Telengana couple dared disrespect family honour by going against family wishes.

Crime scene – The deceased are N Rachana (21) and Neduri Harish (22) of Balrajpalli village in Vemulawada block of the district. The uncles who are accused are Ashok, Shekar and Nagaraju who have raised the deceased girl after her parents expired. The reason for not approving was because the girl was a graduate while Harish drove an autorickshaw for a living. Not a good match apparently. Even though, the couple were both the same Scheduled Tribe and were from the same community.

Harish and Rachana were in love for the last two years and got married in a temple four months ago and were reported to be taking shelter in Harish’s relatives house at Marupaka village. Fearing honour killing, the couple had lodged a complaint. The uncles were called in and made to undergo counselling by the police. Currently, the police have registered a case of murder and are on the lookout for the killers.

As per leading newspapers, India registered 251 honour killings in 2015. A 792% jump reflects the rigorous data collection on honour killing, which the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) started doing from January 2014. The same gamut of reasons cited, family honour, reputation and pride is at stake.