TIRUCHY: In a suspected ‘honour’ killing incident, a 20-year-old girl who was in love with a youth belonging to another caste in the same BC grouping, died under mysterious circumstances at Idiyanvayil in Pudukkottai on Wednesday. Earlier in that week, the girl and her boyfriend had tried to elope, but were detained by police for want of e-pass and sent back to their homes.
The incident came to light only on Saturday after the girl’s boyfriend lodged a police complaint against her parents, who allegedly cremated her without informing the police, seeding the doubt about an ‘honour’ killing. The victim, Savithiri (20), was in love with Vivek (20), a painter. In his complaint, Vivek said they had decided to elope after Savithiri’s parents tried to marry her off.
“We were going to Coimbatore, but were stopped at Kulithalai check post as we did not have epasses. Our parents were called and we were sent back home. Savithiri’s parents assured the police that they would get us married. Now, they claim that she committed suicide. Savithiri would surely not have killed herself. Her parents might have murdered her because we belong to different communities,” the complaint stated. Vivek further said Savithiri had expressed fear that her parents would kill her and refused to go with them.
However, police officers in Kulithalai “convinced” her to return home. The youth, meanwhile, has alleged that the girl’s parents made a vain bid to kill him on Wednesday. When contacted, police confirmed that Savithiri had indeed refused to go back home. “In cases like this, we convince the girl to go with parents, as otherwise we have to send her to a government home. We convinced Savithiri to go back with her parents,” an officer said. Pudukkottai SP Arun Sakthikumar said, “We are inquiring from angles of suicide and honour killing. We are also looking into why the parents tried to conceal her death.”
Cops forced her to return
Kulithalai police confirmed that despite Savithiri’s objections they made her go with her parents, as otherwise they would have had to send her to a government home