Father, uncle booked for honour killing in Maharashtra

Mumbai, April 9 (IANS) A court in Maharashtra's Jalgaon district Monday remanded a tribal girl's father and uncle in police custody for murdering her because she was in love with a boy from a different caste, police said.

According to police, the victim, Manisha Dhangar, in early 20s, was allegedly strangulated by her father, uncle and grandmother her in her sleep at their Pathari village in Jalgaon. While the honour killing took place March 12, it has come to light only now, say police.

Police arrested Manisha's father Yuvraj and uncle Rama Saturday. "We produced them in the court Monday and they have been remanded in police custody till April 12," an official from Jalgaon district's MIDC Police Station told IANS.

Police said Manisha's family was angry over her affair with Sandeep Patil, "a boy from a different caste (Maratha)", who was their neighbour.

"According to villagers, Sandeep and Manisha had decided to elope and marry as they faced opposition from Manisha's family. But her family members allegedly killed her after they got wind of it," the official said.

"After killing Manisha, her father and uncle took her body and dumped it almost 30 km away from their village," he added.

Police had, however, received an anonymous phone call and a letter saying Manisha had been missing from her village and that her family members were behaving in a suspicious manner.

"We had then made inquiries about the case and found that her family had not registered a missing person's complaint. After interrogation, her father and uncle narrated the entire story and confessed to the murder," the official said.