Parents 'murder' 20-year-old pregnant daughter in suspected honour killing in Telangana

Naveen S Garewal
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, June 9

A suspected case of honour killing has been reported from Telangana on Tuesday.

A 20-year-old girl was allegedly smothered to death by her parents for insisting on marrying a boy from another cast. According to the police the girl became pregnant and refused to undergo an abortion, insisting that she marries a boy of her choosing.

According to the case registered by the police, the parents smothered the girl using a pillow, while she was still asleep in the early hours of June 7.

The incident took place at the girl’s house in Kalukuntla in Jogulamba-Gadwal district.

However, the neighbours become suspicious after they heard the girl had suffered a heart attack, so they informed the police.

The local police said that the village secretary raised suspicion on the young girl’s death, who was otherwise hale and hearty, and was a regular college student.

The police started an investigation and arrested the parents on charges of murder under Indian Penal Code section 302 after post-mortem report revealed death due to asphyxia (suffocation).

The deceased is the youngest of their three daughters and the parents, apparently, came to know that the girl was pregnant a day before the incident.

“Seeing her be adamant against abortion, the parents took the desperate step”, police said.

Giving out details, the police said that the girl had fallen in love with the man, while pursuing her degree course in Kurnool district in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, and informed her parents about it after she was found pregnant during an examination by a doctor.

Her parents feared that their daughter may elope.

Initially, the victim agreed for abortion but later changed her mind, following which the parents decide to kill her.

When a police team went to their house and insisted on a post-mortem after noticing some marks on her body indicating a struggle, the parents tried to stop it, saying they did not want it.

A post-mortem revealed the woman was “throttled to death”.

Her parents during interrogation confessed to killing their daughter, the official said, adding they had since been arrested.