Siblings kill 20-year-old woman for ‘bad behaviour’

In one of the rarest instances, Kashmir Police have arrested three siblings, who confessed to have killed their sister as her "character was not acceptable".

According to the police, a 20-year-old girl was strangulated to death by her own brother and two sisters on August 24 in the fields of Shoolipora in Budgam, just 40km from summer capital Srinagar.

According to the police, Mushtaq Ahmad Dar, the brother of the deceased, confessed to have killed his younger sister, with the help of his other two sisters, as the family was not satisfied with her "behaviour" and were facing a lot of ``humiliation in the society by her deeds''.

"During interrogation the accused had said that it was an honour killing and showed no remorse," said Uttam Chand,SP incharge of the area.

"Dar and his sisters hatched a conspiracy to kill Zubaida in the fields away from their home. They later strangulated her to death with her scarf and hid her body under the bushes which was recovered much later,'', he added.

According to initial postmortem report she was beaten up for hours and finally strangled to death with the scarf she wore to hide her head and hair. The body was later discovered by some local shepherds and labourers from outside the state.

"The body bore visible injury marks and sent for postmortem," read a police statement.

Police however is also looking into money angle, the family had recieved an exgratia of one lakh rupees which was deposited in Zubaida's name when she was one year old.
It was in 1992 Ghulam Mohiuddin Dar of Pusroo, Sholipora, was killed in retaliatory firing during an encounter insurgency operation in the area. Dar was sawing smuggled timber at a neighbour's courtyard when an army bullet killed him.
When the mistake was realised one of Zubaida's brother was given a job in police along with the compensation amount of Rs one lakh which was deposited in her account as ex-gratia.

"Police is also probing on the other aspects which include grabbing of ex gratia money belonging to the deceased which she had got from government in SRO case lying in the deceased's bank account," said Chand.

Zubaida's neighbours on the condition of anonymity said the siblings wanted share in the money which was deposited in her account. "Whether it was really an honour killing or simply a murder for money, will become clear in a couple of days", Chand added.