Meerut youth strangles 17-year-old sister for ‘honour’ on busy road

Sumedha Sharma

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Tribune News Service

Gurugram, August 8

Showing no remorse for allegedly killing for honour his 17-year-old sister in full public view, Meerut resident Haseen maintained she was a “disgrace to the family and deserved to die”.

An electrician by profession, 20-year-old Haseen was arrested by the police after a chilling video purportedly showing him strangulating his sister on a busy road went viral. “She could not uphold the family honour and deserved to die. We gave her umpteen chances and thought marrying her off would solve our problem, but she wouldn’t just listen. A rebel, she would threaten suicide. We fixed her wedding and she was planning to elope. We would have been doomed in our community forever. Seeing no other way out and being the eldest son, I had to do this to save my family’s honour,” said Haseen, belonging to Nagla Shekhu village.

Even in the video, Haseen can be heard screaming: “To save our father’s honour, what wouldn’t one do? Our father would have died. She had run away from home thrice.” People are seen standing around, watching the spectacle. No one steps forward to stop the accused from strangling his sister Amreesha.

The 17-year-old girl had reportedly fallen in love with a Hindu boy, Mohit. He would visit the girl’s village often to meet his sister who was married there. That’s when they fell in love. The family was learnt to be against her inter-religious union and was planning to marry her off. She had reportedly eloped with him thrice, only to be brought back each time. As Haseen came to know she was planning to run away the fourth time, he allegedly murdered her in a brutal manner.

Interestingly, it were the local police who brought the girl back the third time she fled as she was a minor. Her family had alleged abduction, though no formal complaint was lodged. The girl was resolute about marrying Mohit, despite her family trying hard to dissuade her.

According to the police, Haseen claimed he “gave her enough chances to survive”. Refusing to budge, she ran out of the house. Haseen chased her down and allegedly beat her up mercilessly before the strangulation. While the murder has shocked the entire nation, the community Haseen belongs to in the village is reportedly lauding him and his father Shehzad Ali for “setting an example for all girls and boys in the town”. The police, for their part, have stepped up security.