Minor's death: Honour killing suspected

A local court has directed the Delhi Police commissioner to get its special wing to investigate a possible "honour killing" angle in the death of a minor girl, who had married a youth from another religion without the consent of her parents.

A local court has directed the Delhi Police commissioner to get its special wing to investigate a possible "honour killing" angle in the death of a minor girl, who had married a youth from another religion without the consent of her parents.

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Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau gave the order while acquitting the youth of charges of rape and murder. The court, however, held him guilty of kidnapping his wife, who was 16 years old.

It also asked the police to submit its report before a chief metropolitan magistrate within three months.

"Further investigations will be required on the issue of the unnatural death of the girl, particularly on the aspect of honour killing of the deceased and on the role of her parental family in the same."

"However, since the local police appear to have given a clean chit to the family of the girl despite voluminous material pointing a finger towards them, it would be desirable that the commissioner of Delhi Police personally intervened in this regard," the court said.

According to the police, the Badli resident had kidnapped the girl, with whom he was in love, in September 2010 and after establishing physical relations with her, he married her.

In March 2011, after poisoning her, the youth had allegedly left the girl at her parents' house, the police said. When her condition deteriorated, she was shifted by her family to a hospital where she had died.

During the trial, the youth told the court that the girl was a consenting party and had voluntarily eloped with him.