Karnataka’s record of honour killings just got bloodier with the alleged murder of a 27 year old on Monday night by her brother who objected to Smruthi, a Lingayat and a Kannada lecturer at Government First Grade College at Kuder, Chamarajanagar taluk, marrying a Dalit.
The young woman was found strangled to death early Tuesday morning at a home she had shared with her grandmother, Nanjamma (72) and friend, Savita Hegde in Halanalli. From Periyapatna taluk in Mysore, and the most educated member of her family, Smruthi had been in love with Sudeep Kumar, an assistant director at the physical education department in Tumkur for the past seven years.
Their marriage was registered in Mysore on November 23, 2011 without the consent of their families. They lived apart. While Sudeep’s family dropped their objections to the marriage, Smruti’s brother Mahadev, told about it on March 9, tried to persuade the couple to break it off. Late on Monday night, Mahadev arrived at his sister’s home. Neighbours reported they heard quarrelling. In the morning, Savitha who returned home at around 4.30 am found her friend’s dead body.