Girl pays with her life for marrying Dalit

Sangeeta was strangled by her father and brother

 According to reports, Sangeeta, a resident of Barmadpur village in the district, who belonged to the ‘Gujjar’ community, was in love with Ravindra Kataria, also from the same village.

The lovers had eloped and got married in February last, reports said adding that the couple had been living in Noida’s sector 62 where they worked together.
When Sangeeta’s family got to know about the wedding, they met the couple and managed to persuade Sangeeta to return to her village on the pretext of arranging her marriage with fanfare, police sources said.

Evidences destroyed
An unsuspecting Sangeeta, who returned to Barmadpur village, was, however, brutally strangled by her father and brother in their house a few days back. According to the police, the family members burnt Sangeeta’s body in their field to destroy all evidence.
The incident came to light when Ravindra, who lost all contact with his wife since July 12 last, lodged a complaint with the Noida police suspecting foul play.

Acting on his complaint, the Noida police launched an investigation and recovered the skeletal remains of the girl from the fields and arrested four persons, including her brother and father. The accused persons have confessed to the killing, police said.
Several couples have been killed in the past for either marrying against the wishes of the family or outside their caste and community.

Growing incidents of honour killings in the northern Indian states of UP and Haryana have evoked sharp reactions from the society forcing the government to mull over tougher laws to deal with such killings.