Woman succumbs to honour killing in Mysore

Mangaloretoday/ DHNS

Mysore, March 13, 2012: A 27-year-old woman was killed, reportedly by her brother, in the Nazarbad area of the city on Tuesday for marrying outside her caste. Police are looking for the suspect, Mahadeva.

Shruti and Sudeep KumarThe killing of Shruti comes barely three months after a man hanged his daughter in Mandya for falling in love with a Dalit, raising concern that the shameful practice of honour killings may be showing signs of becoming a trend in the State.

 

Shruti, an assistant professor of Kannada at the Government PU college in Kuderu, married her college sweetheart Sudeep Kumar of T K Layout in the city, an assistant director of physical education at Tumkur University. They married secretly at the office of sub-registrar (south) here, after Shruti’s family declined to accept a Dalit groom for their Lingayat daughter. Sources said Shruti had insisted on keeping the marriage under  wraps and opt for a gala celebration only after getting her family’s consent.

Shruti was sharing an apartment at 2nd Cross, Alanahalli, with her friend Kavita Hegde.
Hegde, who was away in Kerala visiting her family, returned to Mysore at 5 am on Tuesday, to find the door of the house open and Shruti lying dead on her bed.
It was learnt that Nanjamma, Shruti’s grandmother, was staying with her during Hegde’s absence.

Sources said though Kumar’s family welcomed his relationship with Shruti, her relatives were opposed to it. Though Dinesh, Shruti’s elder brother, had thawed over time and reconciled to the marriage, Mahadeva, the second brother was bitterly opposed. While Kumar’s family went to the extent of seeking Shruti’s hand from her family, they failed to assuage Mahadeva.

Since then, he had been allegedly pressurising Shruti to sever all ties with Kumar and marry a boy of their choice.

“Neighbours had heard Shruti screaming at around midnight. However, when they rushed to the house, they heard TV volume in high pitch,” DCP (law and order) Basavaraj Y Malagathi said.

He suspected that Mahadeva and an accomplice, both inebriated, may have strangled Shruti after raising the volume to muffle the noise of the killing. Police have formed teams to apprehend Mahadeva.

Dinesh, however, claimed that Mahadeva had left home four days back.


Mandya case: Final report submitted

In a similar incident at Mandya that shook the entire state, Maddur police have submitted a final report to the court, framing charges against 11 accused in the case.

Suvarna, an upper caste girl from Abalavadi in Mandya district was allegedly in love with Govindaraju, a Dalit. She had allegedly committed suicide on December 6 last year.
However, in January, the incident took a dramatic turn when it came to light that she was murdered. Her father Ramakrishna and 10 others, including his brother, had allegedly hanged Suvarna to death at her lover’s house.

The body was allegedly burnt later to conceal the crime. Fearing for his life, Govindaraju went into hiding, while his family continued to live in fear before reporting the incident to the police. Ramakrishna and the other accused have been arrested.