India: Couple abducted, crushed, chopped into pieces in a case of 'honour killing' in Punjab

Dubai: In a shocking case of 'honour killing' in India, a couple was brutally murdered by nine people in the Indian state of Punjab on Sunday.

Twitter users in the country shared details of the incident that took place in broad daylight in the Tarn Taran district of Punjab.

As reported by indiatoday.in the accused were close relatives of the deceased woman, police sources said.

Amandeep Singh, who was brutally murdered along his wife, Amanpreet Kaur (24), the couple got married in August last year.

According to indianexpress.com, both were Jat Sikhs and were in a relationship since Class 12. Their marriage was solemnised last year in court, allegedly without informing their respective families. While their parents and siblings had accepted them after a few days, Amanpreet’s six paternal uncles and their sons (her cousins) still had a problem with her ‘love marriage’.

They abducted the couple when they were returning after paying a visit to a gurdwara on Sunday and took them to Naushehra Dhala — a village just a few metres away from the India-Pakistan border in Tarn Taran district.

Brutal murder in broad daylight

At Amandeep’s home, villagers described the most heart-rending and bone-chilling scenes of Sunday’s crime, when the couple was attacked on their way back from gurudwara Bir Baba Buddha Sahib on a motorbike. Their bike was rammed from behind by a Swift car near the road leading towards their village. After the couple fell down, the accused then allegedly crushed them under the car’s wheels and then attacked them with swords and other sharp-edged weapons.

Villagers claimed that the couple was allegedly dragged for a few meters before being “dumped in the car”. The accused then took them to the road right in front of Amandeep’s home, brought them out of the car and shot them. The accused again allegedly mowed them under the vehicle and shot both in head and face before fleeing the spot.

The autopsies of the victims could not be completed Monday as bullets stuck in their heads could not be located in X-rays and CT scans had to be done.

Police first arrested the deceased woman's father Amarjeet and mother Harvinder Kaur from the place where the couple was murdered but they were later released when they told the police that the couple was killed by the girl's cousins.

According to indianexpress.com, Gurbhinder alias Bhupinder alias Bhindi, Amanpreet’s youngest cousin in his twenties, had allegedly threatened to kill the couple and is the main accused.

A case has been registered against nine people at Sarai Amanat Khan police station. The police have booked five persons — the girl’s paternal uncle, Mewa Singh, his two sons — Gurbhinder and Surjit Singh, and two other cousins — Amarjit Singh and Harwinder Singh — for kidnapping and murder.

“Paagalpan, anpadta… chhoti soch… dimaag khraab haige ehna bachheyan de ajj kal…court di ni sunde tey hor kis di sunange. Do parivaar khatam karte… (Madness, illiteracy.. petty thinking. This younger generation has lost their heads. When they don’t listen to the courts, then who else will they listen to! They have finished the two families),” mourned Harbhajan Singh, a 73-year-old relative of Amandeep Singh told Indian Express