Faisal Fareed
Daijiworld Media Network - Lucknow
Lucknow, Sep 22: The City of Taj which boasts of monument of Love is not kind to lovers. Irked over the affair, parents strangulated their own daughter after she refused to mend her ways in Agra district on Thursday.
In anther incident which also smells of honour killing, bodies of two youths and a girl were found hanging from a mango tree in Sitapur district around 100 kms from Lucknow on Thursday.
In the first incident, Babita, a resident of Loriyapur village in Agra developed an inclination with another youths of same village. Against her parents wishes she decided to marry her. This infuriated her parents who strangulated her and later cremated her body on the outskirts of the village. Police reached the scene when the girl's body was turned into ashes. Though a case has been registered, police
is yet to arrest any of the parents.
In the second incident at Sitapur, primary reports hinted that they had been murdered and their bodies were hanged later to pass of the incident as a suicide. All the three deceased are in their early 30s suggesting a love affair leading to their murder. The bodies still remained unidentified with local police making efforts to ascertain their identity. "The bodies were hung at a low height and the feet of
one of them touched the ground. It suggests that they were murdered elsewhere and later hung so that it could pass off as a suicide," said Special DG Brijlal in Lucknow on Thursday.
UP has an ugly history of honour killing where the parents and kins do not hesitate to murder their own sons and daughters if they are inclined towards opposite sex. Love marriage is still considered a taboo while eloping is treated as a dishonour for the whole village.
Many love birds have lost their lives to this medieval mindset in the state. Ironically the whole village supports such brutal action on part of family members and does not approve of love affairs.
The spate of honour killings had sent a wave of sensation across the state. A day before on Wednesday, a boy and girl were murdered in a similar fashion at Auraiyya district of the state.