In a shocking piece of news, a 45-year-old father hacked his very own daughter to death with an axe as he was upset over her affair with a boy belonging to a different caste.
The 20-year-old girl, Soniya, belonged to town of Loni in Ghaziabad district and was attacked by her father at 5am while she was asleep.
“Asha Ram said that he tried to persuade his daughter to snap his relations with the man but she was adamant on marrying him. Asha Ram surrendered at a police station,” said police officer Anil Kumar Yadav.
However, Ram was not at all sorry for his henious act. He, on the other hand, said thah he had no regrets at all.
“I implored her, even touched her feet to get herself out of the relationship... but she did not listen to me... I was left with no option but to take this step... I killed her and I have no regrets,” said Ram.
Reports also say that Soniya had eloped with the same boy three years ago, but Ashok had somehow found her and got her back home.
“Then, the family did not report the matter to police. Later, she came in contact with a man who resides in Loni. She wanted to marry him against her family’s wishes. After her father surrendered before the police, we also recovered the axe used in the crime,” said Yadav.
The Growing menace of honour killings
Honour killings have become quite a menace in India, and despite the government's efforts, parents still are killing their daughters as they do not want them to marry a boy of a different caste.
According to United Nations statistics, one in five cases of honour killing happens in India. Of the 5000 international cases, 1000 occurred in India. However, Indian NGOs say that the actual number would be four times of that.
Many cases have also been reported by the media, the most popular one being that of Arushi Talwar, who was apparently killed by her doctor parents when they found her in an "objectionable position" with their domestic help, according to the CBI judgement.
Legal experts Anil Malhotra and his brother Ranjit Malhotra have said that in many traditional set-ups honour killings are justified as they're done to save the family from bad reputation.
In a joint paper, that was presented at the International Child Abduction, Relocation and Forced Marriages Conference in London, the lawyer brothers had stated: "Forced marriages and honour killings are often intertwined. Marriage can be forced to save honour, and women can be murdered for rejecting a forced marriage and marrying a partner of their own choice who is not acceptable for the family of the girl.
The paper also stated that honour killings are quite common in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.
"They happen not only within the Muslim community but also among Sikhs and Hindus," they said in the paper.
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