No arrest yet in Haryana suspected honour killing

BHIWANI - No arrests have yet been made in connection with the suspected honour killing of two teenaged lovers whose bodies were found hanging from a tree in a Haryana village, police said Monday.

The bodies of Monika, 18, resident of Neemdiwala village, and Pinku, 19, of Manheru village, were found Sunday at Neemdiwala village in Bhiwani district.

“Although police have registered a case of murder against six persons, so far we have not arrested anybody. Right now postmortem examination is on at the government hospital in Rohtak and we are waiting for the reports,” district police chief Ashwin told IANS here Monday.

“We cannot rule out the possibility of honour killing but it is too early to reach any conclusion. Bodies were found from the house of Monika’s uncle. It seems that the couple was killed and then hanged to give an impression of suicide to misguide the police,” he added.

Police sources said the family members of Monika, a Class 11 student, were against their plan to marry as the boy and the girl were from the same gotra (sub-caste).

Ashwin said preliminary investigation revealed that the boy and the girl were in love for the last many months and were planning to marry but their parents were against the alliance.

Six people who were booked in this case included Monika’s parents, two brothers, uncle and aunt.

“We are keeping a close watch on the people, who are booked in this case, so that they do not run away from the village,” stated Ashwin.

Haryana’s conservative families are notorious for the honour killings that many times involve boy and girl from the same gotra.

In March this year, a local court in Karnal had awarded death sentence to five people for the honour killing of a young couple who had married in 2007 against the wishes of their community.