Three of family in Punjab killed over inter-caste marriage

Three relatives of a man who married a Dalit woman around a month-and-half ago were allegedly hacked to death by the woman’s kin in a hate crime in Naushehra village, 40 km from the district headquarters, on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, local police said.

According to them, the man, Harman Singh, a 22-year-old from the Jat Sikh community, married Bavy, a 20-year old from the neighbouring village, despite opposition from her family.

The deceased have been identified as Harman’s father Joginder Singh (65), his brother Pawandeep Singh (16) and his sister Prabhjit Kaur (20).

Police have identified the accused as Bavy’s father Beer Singh, her three brothers Sukh Singh, Arshdeep Singh and Vardeep Singh of Dhala village; her cousins Happy, Mani, Govinda of Attari in Amritsar; Bikram Singh, Bachitter Singh and Joban Singh, and her brother in-law (sister’s husband) Jagga Singh of Amritsar city.

The police say there were three more assailants whose identities they have been unable to establish.

The incident took place at around 1 am when Harman Singh and the three deceased were sleeping in their home. Sensing trouble, Singh had already dropped his wife at a relative’s house in Thathi Sohal village on Monday evening.

Singh returned to the village only on Monday. After he came home, Singh said, “I came to know that the relatives of my wife were gathering in the village. In the evening, I dropped my wife at a relative’s home and came back.”

“At 1 am, I heard a noise outside my house. I saw the accused were trying to scale the outer walls of my house. I fled by jumping from the roof of my house and went to my uncle Balkar Singh’s home,” he added.

By the time he returned with his uncle, his father, brother, and sister were dead.

Soon after the incident, superintendent of police (headquarters) Harjit Singh, deputy superintendent of police (city) Kamaljit Singh, and station house officer (SHO) of Sara-e-Amanat Khan police station Ranjit Singh reached the spot and began their investigation.

“As per our preliminary investigation, the trio was killed by the family members of the woman who were against the love-marriage. There were many deep cuts on the dead bodies. The bodies have been sent for post-mortem,” said Harjit Singh.

The accused have been booked under sections 302 ( murder), 452 (trespass with intent to hurt, assault or wrongfully restrain), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) and 149 ( unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code. “Raids are being conducted to nab the accused,” Kamaljit Singh added.