In a shocking incident, a teenage girl was murdered by her parents to protect their family honour, as she had fallen in love with a youth from another community at Veerapalli village in Chittoor district.
Police said the 17-year-old girl, a first year Intermediate student at Madanapalle, had fallen in love with Suresh (22), a neighbour. While the girl belonged to the Scheduled Tribe, the boy was from a Scheduled Caste community.
“With the girl remaining adamant, her parents Sriramulu (40) and Parvathamma (38), who are farm labourers, hatched a plan to kill her to protect their ‘family’s honour’,” police said. Confirming it was a case of honour killing, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Palamner) Shankar said the couple, along with some close relatives, had taken the girl to a Shiva temple atop a hillock near their village, saying they wanted to perform a special puja for her on January 17. They took her to a nearby forest and killed her by hanging her from a tree branch. The body was later thrown into the bushes.
Five days later, on January 22, the girl’s parents lodged a ‘missing’ complaint with police, stating their daughter was missing. Meanwhile, some shepherds noticed her body, which was half-eaten by wild animals, in the bushes and informed police.
They were upset with the teenager, who belonged to a Scheduled Tribe, falling in love with a Dalit boy
