Tuesday, October 25, 2011

[ZESTCaste] Family mute as married woman killed for eloping with Dalit

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/indore/Family-mute-as-married-woman-killed-for-eloping-with-Dalit/articleshow/10484507.cms

Family mute as married woman killed for eloping with Dalit
Suchandana Gupta, TNN | Oct 25, 2011, 11.14AM IST

BHOPAL: A 30-year-old married woman in Morena district of the
Chambal-Gwalior region paid with her life for eloping with a Dalit
youth.

Guddi Bai Gujjar was mercilessly beaten with sticks and then allegedly
killed by her husband and in-laws even as her younger sister, married
into the same family, stood a mute spectator.

Her sister Brijesh allegedly watched her sibling being paraded,
beaten-up, hanged from a tree and then the body burnt in an
agricultural field. The police are stunned that Brijesh who is an
eyewitness in the honour killing of her elder sibling refused to give
a statement or divulge any details of the incident.

The Morena police have registered a case of murder and destruction of
evidence against four persons including the victim's husband Dhaniram
Singh Gujjar, brother-in-law Uday Singh Gujjar and two other relatives
Narendra Pratap and Veeru. All four have been arrested on Monday.

The incident occurred in Lehar village under the Dimni police station
area. Guddi Bai Gujjar was married into an influential farmer family
of the region more than a decade ago.

However, being nearly 15 years younger than her husband she fell in
love with a Dalit youth, identified as Kamal Valmiki, who visited her
village often. On October 2, Guddi Bai eloped with her paramour and
went all the way to New Delhi so that her husband and in-laws could
not trace her in the crowds of the country's capital.

Her family went to the Dimni police station on October 2 and
registered a missing report,'' said superintendent of police (Morena)
Sanjay Kumar Singh. On October 20, we received information from
various sources that the woman had been traced by the in-laws, brought
back to the village and murdered.''

According to the police, it was just a tip-off and no formal complaint
was registered. Based on the tip-off, the police immediately set-out
for the village to investigate the matter. We searched the entire
village, the crematorium, bus stand and the neighbourhood but found
nothing the first day,'' SP Sanjay Kumar Singh said.

The next morning, we went back to village and this time found a burnt
spot in a field near the adjoining forest area.'' Police suspects that
it was here that Guddi Bai's body was burnt and the remains destroyed
or discarded elsewhere.

A day after the police search started, Guddi Bai's father came to know
of the incident. He registered a complaint with the local police
alleging that his daughter was brutally murdered by her husband and
in-laws for eloping with a Dalit.

In his complaint, the father said that Guddi had eloped with the Dalit
youth which her husband and in-laws took as a humiliation to the
family and Gujjar community,'' said Mangal Singh, inspector in-charge
of Dimni police station. To avenge Guddi's elopement with a youth from
the Dalit community, the husband and in-laws punished her with
death.''

There are three versions of Guddi's killing which is under police
investigation. Story one: Guddi and her lover were traced by Dhaniram
and family in New Delhi. They brought her back to the village and then
started the judgement by the Gujjar community. With beating of drums,
the villagers were told that a meeting had been called in the temple
on the outskirts of the village.

The victim was dragged through the village by her husband and in full
public view was beaten mercilessly with sticks. They hung her by the
neck from a tree but when the rope snapped, the in-laws threw kerosene
on her body and set her alight. Story two: Guddi was beaten to death
by her family members even as nearly a hundred residents of the
village watched.

After she died, the community elders wanted to avoid a police case and
hence, took the body to an adjoining agricultural field and cremated
it there. The bones and remains of the charred body were discarded.
Story three: Guddi never returned to the village. She was killed by
her in-laws in the outskirts and her body brought to the field and
burnt.

The case is under investigation. We will know the exact modus operandi
after all the accused have been arrested. So far, we have arrested the
victim's brother-in-law Uday Singh Gujjar and he is being
interrogated,'' SP Morena Sanjay Kumar Singh said. Case has been
registered under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (disappearance of
evidence) of the IPC,'' he added.

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