Chandigarh: Three family members of the girl, who along with a 23-year-old boy was brutally killed in Rohtak district for 'honour', were on Thursday arrested while police is carrying out raids to nab three other accused in the case.
The girl's father Ravinder, mother Reeta, and uncle Narinder were on Thursday arrested while police are looking for the girl's brother, his friend and a car driver.
"The police have arrested three persons -- deceased girl's mother, father and her uncle," Rohtak IG Anil Rao told the media over phone here.
Rao, while terming it as a 'cold blooded murder', said that the weapon used in the crime is yet to be recovered. "It was a cold blooded murder where parents of the girl seems to be against the affair of their daughter with a boy," he said.
While the girl, Nidhi Barak (20) was killed in public view, the boy Dharmender Barak (23) was beaten up, his arms and legs broken and then beheaded on Wednesday. The killing took place in Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's backyard.
Both Nidhi and Dharmender belonged to Jat community and were residents of Gharnavati village in Kalanaur of Rohtak district.
Nidhi was pursuing a fine arts course in Rohtak, while Dharmender was doing ITI diploma in Rohtak. On Tuesday both the deceased left their homes and did not return. Nidhi's family managed to contact Nidhi on Wednesday and persuaded her to return home.
But, later, they were found murdered. In Haryana, as per the diktat of Khap panchayats (community councils), marriages within the same village and community are not allowed. The 'honour' crimes are common in Haryana and Punjab.
Alarmed over it, the Supreme Court in 2011 had observed that the so-called honour killers should face the death penalty. There are no statistics on the number of "honour" killings across Haryana and Punjab, but according to a study, hundreds of people are killed each year for falling in love or marrying against their families' wishes.
Meanwhile, All India Democratic Womens' Association (AIDWA) has expressed deep shock and anguish over the "barbaric case of honour killing" in Rohtak. Haryana state committee of Janawadi Mahila Samiti said that "heinous crime is a shame on the face of civil society".
The level of cruelty displayed in this shameful crime has stirred the conscience of all right thinking individuals, it said. AIDWA state Secretary Savita said that "such barbaric crimes continue unabated and reminding of medieval period". "Haryana alone has recorded dozens of honour killing incidents but nothing has been done to curb such crimes against humanity," he said.
It is ironical that the state government and mainstream politics continue to be silent spectators due to which no strong signal goes to the perpetrators of such crimes, she said. The AIDWA had long been striving for enactment of a separate legislation against honour killings, she said.
"A memorandum, with over a lakh signatures, was submitted to the union Law minister few months back and draft legislation too was submitted to the ministry.
But the same was not placed before Parliament owing to opposition by Haryana government and other regressive forces like khaps who are active in North Western region," she said.
AIDWA also exhorted the elders to ponder over the concept of family honour and raise questions as to what honour was being saved by killing our own children.