Lover killed, girl injured in suspected honour killing in India

Jul 7, 2010, 13:40 GMT

New Delhi - Relatives of a young woman killed her lover and beat her up in Tamil Nadu, southern India, after she ran away from an arranged marriage, news reports said.

Honour killings are feared to be on the rise in India, as increased urbanization and mobility clash with traditional values.

Menaka, 18, eloped with her lover, Sivakumar, after she was married to another man against her will by her parents in June, said the report, giving only their first names.

Her relatives persuaded them to return to the village in Tamil Nadu's Sivaganga district, where Sivakumar was murdered and she was assaulted, police were quoted as saying by PTI news agency.

Doctors in the hospital of nearby Madurai, where she was admitted, said her condition was serious.

Police are looking for the girl's parents and other relatives.

Indian media have reported a spate of murders over recent years by kinsmen to protect the so-called honour of families and villages.

The victims are couples who ignore the traditional restrictions of caste, religion or backgrounds in their choice of partner.

In several villages in northern India, khap panchayats, or caste councils, forbid marriage between men and women from the same village.

Honour killing are reported from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan states every year.

In northern India alone, 19 such murders were reported between April 19 and June 30, according to police figures quoted by the Times of India.

The number of unreported cases could be greater, experts say.

Sociologists say that the rising number of such murders could be partly due to rapid urbanization where young men and women are thrown together in neutral environments at work away from the conservative environment of their homes.

In June, two couples were killed in Delhi for having relationships against families' wishes.

India's Supreme Court has taken the trend seriously, issuing notices to the federal government and six state governments to protect young couples who faced the diktats of khap panchayats.

The court was responding to a petition by a non-governmental organization, Shakti Vahini, asking for greater protection for couples in inter-caste, inter-religious or otherwise 'contentious' marriages.