Patna: A 21-year-old Indian man was “executed” on the directive of a local village court in Bihar for falling in love with a local girl, in the latest incident of honour killing.
The alleged incident took place late on Tuesday night but was reported in the media only on Thursday. Acting on the report, police have arrested two people while raids were underway to arrest other people suspected of being involved in the execution of the boy.
Police said the deceased Raghunath Rai, from Tariyani-Chapra village in Sheohar district, had recently fallen in love with a 15-year-old village girl studying in class eight.
Subsequently, the youth eloped with the girl and also married her in defiance of the local village council, which had warned them against doing so. This triggered tension between the pair’s families in the village.
The trouble began when they returned to their native village several days ago and began living together.
Reports said, soon after the news of their return reached the village, a meeting of the local village court was held on Tuesday evening to try him.
After hearing both sides, the court asked the youth to either to stay away from the girl or leave the village for good but he resisted the diktat.
The victim’s family members said subsequently he was thrashed mercilessly at the meeting by the local villagers on the order of the court and shortly after that he was hanged from a tree on the outskirts of the village.
“The boy had gone missing after the court meeting and the very next day, he was found hanging from a tree on the outskirts of the village,” Rajiv Ranjan, a local police official who is probing the case, told Gulf News over the phone on Thursday.
He said the boy and girl belonged to the same caste and hailed from the same village.
“The boy had been asked by the court to stay away from girl but he did not want to. Apparently, he was killed for opposing the court’s diktat,” the police official added.
He said police had registered a case against 13 people after a report by the victim’s brother, Jagannath Rai.
“We have arrested two persons, including the main accused, while the raids are underway to nab the remaining accused persons,” he added.
The victim’s brother, Jagannath, said the deceased was assaulted badly at the court by some village before being hanged from a tree.
Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi also condemned the killing, saying such incidents had no place in the society.
“We have information that a youth has been killed for entering in a love marriage. We are investigating the case and action will be initiated against the accused persons under the existing provisions of the laws,” Manjhi, who recently asked the Dalits to enter inter-caste marriages, told the media today.
Cases of “honour killings” have become more common in Bihar and recently a youth was killed by being thrown in front of a moving train just for writing a love letter to a local girl who hailed from a powerful caste.
