Man killed for 'honour', wife threatens suicide with children

A widow, whose husband was brutally killed by her family after a “khap” (caste panchayat) had “sentenced” him to death for being from a different “biradari” (caste), has threatened suicide with her children.

Mehvish, who was pregnant when her husband Abdul Hakim was shot dead in broad daylight in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahar district, about 450 km from here, in November last year, had hoped that the culprits would be brought to book. The couple had reportedly given as many as 48 applications to the senior district police officials apprehending threat to their lives but the police chose to ignore them.
Four months after her husband’s murder, Mehvish is not sure if the culprits would be punished.

On Sunday she met senior police officials and complained that the police were trying to “shield” the alleged culprits. “The local police claim that my husband was killed for molestation and that it was not an honour killing...it’s a lie,” Mehvish told senior police officials. ``I told the cops that I will commit self immolation with my two kids if any attempt is made to shield the culprits,” she said.

Taking cognizance of her complaint, a re-investigation had been ordered into the killing of Abdul Hakim, officials said.Abdul Hakim and his lover Mehvish, both residents of Bulandshahar district, had eloped two years back, married at a court and had settled in Delhi to escape the wrath of the dreaded “khaps”,  which had “sentenced to death” Hakim for marrying into a different “biradari” (caste).

The couple’s strong denunciation of the ‘khaps’ and honour killings at film actor Amir Khan’s TV programme ‘Satyamev Jayate’  later had also not gone down well with the panchayat members.

On November 22 last year, Hakim was shot dead allegedly by the family members of Mehvish. The couple had returned to the village thinking that the panchayat would accept them.“We chose to return as we thought that the two families must have forgiven us,” said Mehvish, who then was six months pregnant.

Several lovers have been killed in the past in UP, especially in the Jat dominated western region for defying their families. The all-powerful khaps, the caste panchayats, have made it clear that they will not allow love marriages and marriages of couples from the same gotra. The panchayats have also punished lovers for defying their diktat.