In Rajasthan’s Jhalawar district, a family is accused of killing and cremating their 20-year-old daughter more than a year after she married against their wishes, local police reported on Friday.
Shimla Kushwaha’s husband Ravindra Bhil accused her of being kidnapped while withdrawing money from the ATM and then murdered.
According to Deputy Police Superintendent Jai Prakash Atal, “The postmortem showed that she was murdered and then her bodies were burnt by the family members. The CCTV footage also confirms the presence of four to five people. ”
As per the police records, Bhil and Kushwaha were married for almost a year legally but were not accepted by her family. After their wedding, the two settled in the nearby state of Madhya Pradesh.
Bhil said that on Thursday, his wife called him and demanded that he go to the police because she was being abducted. I later learnt that she was dead and her relatives had burnt her body,” Bhil reported to the authorities.
The police have since opened investigations into the matter. Deputy Superintendent Atal said that besides family’s unfavorable stance towards the marriage, they are yet to establish the cause of murder after thorough investigation.
This case points to the continued practices of honor killing by families in some parts of India, people who engage in free and or inter-caste marriages are often eliminated by their families.
Authorities are continuing their investigation, and further details are expected as the case develops.
