A newly-wed couple was abducted and hacked to death allegedly by the woman's family members who had objected to their marriage in a village in Punjab's Fazilka district on Sunday, 17 October, The Indian Express reported.
After the man's brother-in-law Sukhdev Singh filed a complaint, the Moga police registered a First Information Report (FIR) against 16 people, including the woman's paternal uncle and cousins, on charges of murder, kidnapping, and other offences.
Rohtash Singh, 25, and Suman, 23, got married on 1 October in Chandigarh. They had been staying at Rohtash's sister Mamta's house in Raunta village in Nihal Singh Wala of Moga since 13 October.
As per The Indian Express, the accused allegedly barged into Mamta's house, kidnapped the couple, beat them up and then murdered them in the Sappanwali village of Abohar in Fazilka district on 17 October.
As per the police, the accused had slit Rohtash's throat, strangled Suman and then dumped their bodies at the main chowk of the village. The couple also had multiple injuries on their bodies, most likely inflicted with swords, axes, and other sharp weapons.
The FIR was registered under sections 302 (murder), 452 (house trespass), 364 (kidnapping or abducting to murder), 148 (rioting) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Nihal Singh Wala police station against Suman’s uncles, her cousins and those who accompanied them. The accused, namely Atma Ram, Mahinder Ram, Naresh Kumar, Mandeep Singh, Babby, Paali, Sonu, Lekh Raj, Sheri, Dauli, Babli, Shindi, Babbu, Vinod, Heera and Kewal, are all from Sappanwali village.
Rohtash’s brother, Vikram Kumar, stated that Suman’s family roamed outside their house with weapons. He claimed that both families are from the Other Backward Class (OBC) community. Suman belonged to a land-owning family, and Rohtash came from a family of daily wagers, which is why her family objected to their marriage.
Sukhdev Singh's Statement
Sukhdev Singh, Rohtash’s brother-in-law, told The Indian Express that three cars stopped outside his residence on Sunday afternoon. About 16 people scaled the walls of his house when they refused to open the gates.
After entering, they began to beat Rohtash and Suman and dragged them out of the house. They took them away in their cars. He said that he tried to follow them on his motorcycle, but they sped off. A few hours later, they had killed them and thrown the bodies at the chowk.
Sukhdev stated that Suman identified four attackers; two were her paternal uncles, and two were her cousins. Her family members carried swords, and about 10 people accompanied them.
According to Sukhdev, they continued to shout, ‘tuhanu love marriage karwaun da mazaa chakhauney haan’ (Now we will teach you both a lesson for solemnising love marriage), indicating towards a case of honour killing.
Like Vikram, Sukhdev also confirmed that there was no caste issue in the case.
“Both Suman and Rohtash loved each other since school days and always wanted to get married. Earlier also, 2-3 times, Suman’s family had warned us against this relationship, but both were madly in love,” Sukhdev said.
(With inputs from The Indian Express.)
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