The honour killing of a minor girl seven months ago came to light only recently after a Karnataka court directed the girl’s father to produce her before it.
The case is from the Raichur district in Karnataka. The police on Saturday announced that they have arrested the father for the minor girl’s murder.
According to the police, the murder accused is a farmer from the Kuruba community, and his 17-year-old daughter was in a relationship with a person called Hanumantha, who hails from a Scheduled Tribe group. The couple had eloped last year to get married, but were caught by the girl’s family.
Thereafter, the father of the girl had filed a case against Hanumantha, and the latter was booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. Hanumantha was arrested but was released on bail three months later.
The father of the girl reportedly asked her to discontinue the relationship owing to Hanumantha’s “lower caste” status, but the girl objected to it.
On September 29, 2024, the farmer, his wife and the minor girl had gone to their farm. The mother of the girl returned home early. It has been learnt that, thereafter, an argument broke out between the father and the daughter over her relationship, and the former hit the minor girl’s head with a stone, resulting in her death. Later, the accused carried the body on a two-wheeler and dumped it in the Krishna River. The man reportedly threatened his wife not to inform anyone about the death.
The incident came to light when the court asked the prosecution to direct the victim to appear before the court in the Pocso case. A police officer said, “We asked the father to bring the girl to court, but he gave vague reasons and did not appear for three hearings.”
The court then directed that the minor girl must appear in court proceedings. The man then claimed that his daughter was missing, so the court asked the police to register a missing person’s case. It was only during the probe of the case that it was revealed that the farmer had killed his daughter.