Sombir’s younger brother Dinesh, flanked by two policemen at his house in Rohtak’s Singhpura village on Thursday, pointed out how a Jat boy in the village had married a Dalit girl, but a Dalit was never allowed to marry an upper caste girl.
Dinesh, 26, and his mother Saroj had narrowly escaped a murderous attack outside city’s Mini Secretariat on Thursday afternoon wherein a minor girl, who had eloped with Sombir last year, and Haryana Police Sub-Inspector Narender Kumar were shot dead at point-blank.
The police in their investigation so far suspect the involvement of the girl’s family hinting at honour killing.
‘Girl was adamant’
Saroj recalled how Sombir, 28, had informed them about his decision to marry the Jat girl just a day before they eloped on August 24, 2017.
“Sombir’s father had warned him about the consequences since the girl belonged to the upper caste, but the girl was adamant,” said Saroj.
She, however, added that his son was not the first to marry an upper caste girl and such cases were now rampant.
“After the marriage, the girl pleaded with his father several times to let her live in peace, but her family had made their intentions to kill her clear. They even issued threats to Sombir and us.”
‘Had no idea about affair’
Sombir worked as a financier and had been staying on rent at the girl’s house in Rohtak for the past over a year before they eloped.
Dinesh, who runs a mobile shop, said the family had no idea about the relationship.
“We still do not know how the two got to know each other,” said Dinesh.
Arrested for forgery
He said the family tried hard to dissuade Sombir from marrying an upper caste girl fearing backlash and stayed away from getting involved till the time the two got married in a court in Chandigarh.
Dinesh said that his family finally extended their support to the couple only when the girl refused to go back to her parents after Sombir was arrested in January this year on charges of forging documents to show that she was an adult.
“Though we had no hint about the forged Aadhaar Card, the girl’s family in collusion with the police named seven persons in the case, including my wife and mother. My wife left me after this. My mother and I went underground and resurfaced two months later after we got anticipatory bail. We were finally acquitted,” said Dinesh, a post-graduate.
He alleged that even the police favoured the girl’s family due to caste considerations and humiliated and abused the man’s family on several occasions.
“The staff at Karnal’s Nari Niketan [where the girl was sent after her arrest in a forgery case in January this year] and the police would also taunt her for marrying a Dalit boy despite being an upper caste,” said Dinesh.
Death threats
Though the girl’s family allegedly issued threats to eliminate the girl, the boy and his family several times, the latest threat came just a month ago. Saroj had gone for a hearing in the court last month when the girl’s father allegedly threatened to kill them.
Dinesh recalled that the girl’s family even visited her in Karnal a couple of times and threatened her.
‘Sitting duck’
“She demanded security, but nothing happened. She was a sitting duck as she travelled in Haryana Roadways buses on her way to Rohtak for court hearings. Most of the times the policeman accompanying her did not even carry a baton,” said Dinesh.
He now fears for Sombir’s life inside the jail as the girl’s cousins were lodged in the same jail in some criminal case.
