Honour killing in Warangal

• Tribal girl done to death by her parents
• She, her lover carry same surname

Kuravi (Warangal): In a bid to ‘protect’ their family honour, the parents of a tribal girl have allegedly committed homicide and killed the girl for falling in love with a neighbour boy. The incident that caused a sensation took place at Tunikichettu Thanda on the outskirts of Kamepalli village in Kuravi mandal in the district on Sunday. The deceased girl, an intermediate student, was identified as Banoth Saritha, aged around 16 years.

She reportedly fell in love with a neighbour Banoth Ramsingh. But this was strongly objected to by her parents who contended that in Banjara community, a boy and a girl with the same surname Banoth happen to be brother and sister. But they refused to listen to the elders and shifted to Hyderabad eight months back. They came back to the thanda on Saturday and appeared before the local police station where the parents of the girl, Banoth Sadamma and Bhadru, had lodged a missing complaint about their daughter. The boy and the girl were said to have told the police that they had not gone missing but left the village on their own. The Kuravi Circle Inspector Ravinder counselled them and suggested that they go to their respective houses and heed their parents’ advice.

The girl, however, expressed apprehensions over returning to her parents house, fearing extreme action by her parents. Her fears came true when her parents and brother Raju killed her and hanged the body in their house, so it would look like a suicide. Nevertheless, when the police arrived with the sniffer dogs, they drew the cops to the parents of the girl. During the questioning by the police, the father of the girl, Bhadru, reportedly admitted to the crime before Mahabubabad DSP Rama Devi. The police booked a case and took the accused into custody.

It might be noted that a similar incident took place on August 16, 2013, at Kesamudram in the district where a person, N Satyanarayana, allegedly committed honour killing by eliminating his daughter, N Maheshwari (17), for falling in love with a youth of the village. Also on March 7, 2013, at Timmampet village of Jaffarghad mandal in the district, a degree second year student Mekala Padma aged around 20 years was brutally beaten to death by her parents as she had fallen in love with a boy outside their community.