Post by Krishan Kumar Gurjar - Lohmod on Jun 24, 2010 0:36:31 GMT -5
‘Role model’ tag on Delhi sister killers
- Service to society, relatives say
New Delhi, June 23: The Gurjar family of Wazirpur, Delhi, is not mourning for the two daughters it lost on Sunday. All its sympathies lie with the killers — the women’s own brothers.
The Gurjars say cousins Ankit and Mandeep are “role models” who have done a service to society by shooting their sisters Monica and Shobha, who had “insulted” their caste by marrying non-Gujjars.
“I think these kids should be made to join politics; they are the right role models. Our sons did nothing wrong, they symbolise hope for a bright future for our nation. Love marriages are against our society; it’s time the youth understood that,” said Dharmavir Nagar, uncle of Mandeep and Ankit.
The cousins are accused of killing Ankit’s sister Monica, 24, her husband Kuldeep Singh Baliya, 26, and Mandeep’s sister Shobha, 20, within three hours of one another in Delhi’s Ashok Vihar with help from friend Nakul Khari. The police say the trio then fled Delhi in a white Hyundai that belongs to a neighbour.
Dharmavir said the family would provide legal assistance to the young men if they were caught.
“After our daughters married outside the caste, we became objects of ridicule in the community,” he said. “Everything has a limit, how much can you expect us to tolerate? Murder isn’t correct, but in this case it was good for society.”
Nitin Nagar, a cousin of Mandeep and Ankit, backed him. “We are not illiterate, we are educated people,” he said.
“Even dogs get ‘married’ but we don’t want to live like dogs. We consider children living in the same village as brother and sister. How can society watch a brother and sister get married and stay passive?”
He apparently couldn’t care less whether his female cousins had been killed for same-gotra marriages or inter-caste ones.
Monica had married a Rajput while Shobha had eloped with her dance teacher, who was from Bihar. Shobha’s younger sister Khushboo is now on the run with her Kashmiri husband, fearing for her life, with Ankit and Mandeep allegedly having informed their friends from their hideout that they planned more honour killings.
The police have announced a reward of Rs 50,000 for information on each of the three accused, and formed 17 teams to search for them in nearby areas in Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and other places where their families have relatives.
Shobha’s decomposing body was found yesterday in a parked Santro two days after her murder. Kuldeep’s elder brother Sonu said his family had informed the police about the missing Santro, which belonged to his cousin Rahul, on the day of the murder but the cops didn’t act in time.
“This isn’t the first time the police have been lax. In 2006, the body of Viru, who had helped Kuldeep and Monica get married, was found in a garbage dump with severe head injuries. We suspected that Ankit and Mandeep were behind the murder and lodged a complaint with Ashok Vihar police station. The police did nothing and the result is that three more innocent lives have been lost,” Sonu said.
Union law minister Veerappa Moily today said the government was planning to bring a bill in Parliament next month to provide for deterrent punishment for honour killings.
“We have finalised the draft and the bill should come in the next session,” he said, without elaborating.
The bill adds five clauses to Section 300 of the Indian Penal Code, making honour killings a “distinct offence”. Such killings now bring charges of murder (Section 302), criminal conspiracy (Section 120B) and killing with common intent (Sections 34 and 36).
In March 30 this year, a Haryana court had in a landmark judgment awarded the death sentence to five people for murdering a couple on the orders of a khap panchayat because they had married against social norms. Among the convicts were the girl’s brother, cousins and panchayat members.
- Service to society, relatives say
New Delhi, June 23: The Gurjar family of Wazirpur, Delhi, is not mourning for the two daughters it lost on Sunday. All its sympathies lie with the killers — the women’s own brothers.
The Gurjars say cousins Ankit and Mandeep are “role models” who have done a service to society by shooting their sisters Monica and Shobha, who had “insulted” their caste by marrying non-Gujjars.
“I think these kids should be made to join politics; they are the right role models. Our sons did nothing wrong, they symbolise hope for a bright future for our nation. Love marriages are against our society; it’s time the youth understood that,” said Dharmavir Nagar, uncle of Mandeep and Ankit.
The cousins are accused of killing Ankit’s sister Monica, 24, her husband Kuldeep Singh Baliya, 26, and Mandeep’s sister Shobha, 20, within three hours of one another in Delhi’s Ashok Vihar with help from friend Nakul Khari. The police say the trio then fled Delhi in a white Hyundai that belongs to a neighbour.
Dharmavir said the family would provide legal assistance to the young men if they were caught.
“After our daughters married outside the caste, we became objects of ridicule in the community,” he said. “Everything has a limit, how much can you expect us to tolerate? Murder isn’t correct, but in this case it was good for society.”
Nitin Nagar, a cousin of Mandeep and Ankit, backed him. “We are not illiterate, we are educated people,” he said.
“Even dogs get ‘married’ but we don’t want to live like dogs. We consider children living in the same village as brother and sister. How can society watch a brother and sister get married and stay passive?”
He apparently couldn’t care less whether his female cousins had been killed for same-gotra marriages or inter-caste ones.
Monica had married a Rajput while Shobha had eloped with her dance teacher, who was from Bihar. Shobha’s younger sister Khushboo is now on the run with her Kashmiri husband, fearing for her life, with Ankit and Mandeep allegedly having informed their friends from their hideout that they planned more honour killings.
The police have announced a reward of Rs 50,000 for information on each of the three accused, and formed 17 teams to search for them in nearby areas in Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and other places where their families have relatives.
Shobha’s decomposing body was found yesterday in a parked Santro two days after her murder. Kuldeep’s elder brother Sonu said his family had informed the police about the missing Santro, which belonged to his cousin Rahul, on the day of the murder but the cops didn’t act in time.
“This isn’t the first time the police have been lax. In 2006, the body of Viru, who had helped Kuldeep and Monica get married, was found in a garbage dump with severe head injuries. We suspected that Ankit and Mandeep were behind the murder and lodged a complaint with Ashok Vihar police station. The police did nothing and the result is that three more innocent lives have been lost,” Sonu said.
Union law minister Veerappa Moily today said the government was planning to bring a bill in Parliament next month to provide for deterrent punishment for honour killings.
“We have finalised the draft and the bill should come in the next session,” he said, without elaborating.
The bill adds five clauses to Section 300 of the Indian Penal Code, making honour killings a “distinct offence”. Such killings now bring charges of murder (Section 302), criminal conspiracy (Section 120B) and killing with common intent (Sections 34 and 36).
In March 30 this year, a Haryana court had in a landmark judgment awarded the death sentence to five people for murdering a couple on the orders of a khap panchayat because they had married against social norms. Among the convicts were the girl’s brother, cousins and panchayat members.
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