Basavaraj Madivalapaa Badiger (19) an auto-rickshaw driver from the Dalit community and Davalbi Bandagisab Tambad (18) a Muslim girl were brutally killed by the girl’s family, in what police said was a suspected case of “honour killing” in Vijayapura district of North Karnataka on Tuesday.
Davalbi’s father Bandagisab Tambad (50), brother Daval (20), and two brothers-in-law Allasab (29) and Rafique Sab (24) have been arrested, cops said.
He said four of the five accused have been arrested, and a search was on for the fifth suspect.
“Prima facie, it looks like a case of honour killing,” Indian Express quoted Vijayapura Superintendent of Police Anupam Agarwal as saying.
He went on to say: “According to the statements of the boy’s family members and villagers, the girl’s relatives saw the couple together in a field and informed her father. He, along with his son and other family members, then rushed to the field. They tied up the couple with a rope, smashed their heads with a rock and stabbed them.”
Dalit boy’s mother, Mallamma told reporters that they were killed in front of her.
“We came to know that her family had tied Basavaraj to a tree, so we rushed there. I pleaded with them to let him go; they didn’t listen to me and threatened me too. They stabbed them and smashed their heads with a rock in front of me,” she adds.
FIR also states that Muslim girl’s family had opposed the relationship and warned Dalit boy and his family earlier.