The police in Punjab’s border district of Tarn Taran have launched a manhunt for killers who shot dead a 50-year-old woman and her newly wed daughter-in-law in what appears to be yet another “honour” crime.
The assailants used shotguns to kill Gurleen Kaur, 19, and her mother-in-law Kuljeet Kaur. The young groom Amarjit was also attacked but escaped with multiple gunshot wounds. Doctors at an Amritsar hospital are still struggling to save his life.
The police believes the murders could be linked to the fact that the unfortunate Gurleen had defied her family to marry Amarjit. The couple was living in the groom’s family home at Bamaniwala village, close to the India-Pakistan border. The couple had wed under police protection on directions from the Punjab and Haryana high court last month. The assailants had come in a vehicle and fled immediately after the killings. The girl’s relatives are also being questioned, the police said. Eight family members have been booked for murder.
The killers were able to strike despite local police officials being aware of the threat to Gurleen and Amarjit’s lives. Honour crimes are fairly common in Punjab though unlike in Haryana, where these have been carried out after diktats from khaps, young couples are targeted by families themselves for daring to chose their own partners.