New Delhi: A young pair in love was murdered in the most barbaric manner in the name of honour killing in Haryana’s Rohtak district late on Wednesday.
The incident took place in Gharnavati village. Both Nidhi Barak, 20, and Dharmender Barak, 23, belonged to the same village and were in love for the past three years. Their relationship was not acceptable to both the families.
Dharmender was warned several times by the girl’s family in the past. But their interference failed to deter the love birds, who eloped on Tuesday with the intention of getting married.
According to reports, they required money to get married and contacted some villagers on Wednesday who in turn informed the girl’s family. They were promised marriage and brought in a vehicle from Bahadurgarh district directly to the girl’s house, where Nidhi was set on fire in full public view and Dharmender was beheaded in the most gruesome manner, after breaking up his arms and legs.
Dharmender’s dead body was later thrown outside his house.
According to Rohtak superintendent of police Rajesh Duggal, they have filed FIR against six persons and taken into custody the girl’s father Billu and her uncle.
Police managed to recover Nidhi’s remains from her pyre and have sent Dharmender’s body for post-mortem.
Both Nidhi and Dharmender belonged to the influential Jat community. While Nidhi was doing a course in fine arts at Rohtak, Dharmender was doing an diploma course.
While the Jat-dominated northern state Haryana is notorious for honour killings, such incidents mostly take place if the couples belong to different communities or castes.
At times couples have been killed when they belong to the same gotra (sub-caste) as local traditions consider them brothers and sisters. Haryana’s khap panchayats (caste councils) are notorious for ordering such killings and often get away since the administration considers such incidents as a social problem and not a law and order problem. However, in this case both belonged to the same Jat community.
Probably, the fact that they belonged to the same village did not go down with both the families. In this case, the decision to kill the couple was taken by the girl’s family and not by the khap panchayat.
Incidentally, Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda belongs to the same community and the same district, but has always hesitated from taking on the illegal khap panchayats for fear of losing their votes, which encourages the community members from taking the law into their own hands.
