In a shocking case of honour killing, a 21-year-old Delhi University student was allegedly throttled to death by her parents for marrying a youth belonging to a different community, police said on Wednesday. The cold-blooded murder took place in Bharat Vihar, Kakrola in South West Delhi on Saturday night. The accused Jagmohan Yadav and his wife Savitri, both in their 40s — have been arrested by South West district police from Delhi after the girl’s husband Abhishek Seth (24) lodged an FIR with police.
“The deceased, Bhawna Yadav (21) a final year student of Sanskrit Honours at Venkateswara College in South Campus, was a bubbly girl. She married Abhishek Seth, a Punjabi who works as Assistant Programmer at Rashtrapati Bhavan against the wishes of her parents. Her angry parents snuffed out her life as they cannot accept their daughter’s marriage,” said one of her classmates.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) South West Suman Goyal said, “They took her body to Alwar, Rajasthan and cremated her at their ancestral village. We have arrested the parents and further investigations are underway.”
Bhawna and Abhishek (24), who is currently posted in Rashtrapati Bhavan, Cabinet Secretariat as Assistant Programmer had met at the Venkateswara College in August 2012 through a common friend.They got married on November 12 in Arya Samaj Mandir at Mandir Marg here on Connaught Place without the consent of their parents as they know that their parents won’t approve of their relationship, police said.
Abhishek then took Bhawna to his home in Uttam Nagar in West Delhi where his parents accepted their marriage.According to Abhishek, Bhawna’s parents reached his home that very night and said that they would get them married in a grand function and took their daughter with them.
“However, once they returned home, they told Bhawna curtly that they won’t accept Abshishek as their son-in-law and they would get her married according to their own wish. Bhawna then returned to my place on November 14. Her parents again came to our house with some neighbours and assured that they would send her after a ‘chunni ceremony’ at their home on Sunday,” said Abhishek.
However, on Saturday night Abhishek got a call from Bhawna’s maternal uncle who threatened to kill both of them.
“Minutes later, I got a call from Bhawna. She told me to ignore the threat as her uncle lakhan was drunk. The next morning, my repeated calls on Bhawna and her parent’s number went unanswered. Sometime later, I got a call from her cousin Sachin who informed me that Bhawna was cremated in Alwar, Rajasthan following which I approached police,” said Abhishek in his police complaint.
One of Bhawna’s neighbours, Mahinder told the police that her parents told him that she was bitten by a snake and they took her to their ancestral place in Alwar, Rajasthan in his car for some ‘tantrik rituals’ to get her cured.“Mahinder told us that Bhawna appeared to be dead when she was kept in his car,” the official added. Following the revelation, police nabbed the parents from their house.
“While questioning they broke down and admitted that they had strangled their daughter at their Delhi home,” the official said adding prima facie it is a clear case of “honour killing”.