Honour Killing lands In-laws Behind Bars

In yet another case of suspected honour killing, a 22-year-old woman was brutally murdered by her in-laws who force-fed her poison after tying her up.

According to police, Boobathi, daughter of Chellapillai from Pudukottai, belonging to the Udayar community, fell in love with Satish Kumar, son of Kannan from the Thevar community in Bodinayakanur, while they were working in a textile outlet in Chennai.

Despite strong opposition, the two got married on April 18, 2013 in Bodi and approached the police for protection.  Later, the police called members of both the families for talks, during which the girl’s family severed their relationship with Boobathi.

The marriage also brought disappointment to Sathish ’s mother Sulochana, who was expecting huge dowry as Sathish was her only son.

The couple was living with Sathish’s parents. Sulochana allegedly took away Boobathi’s earnings and tortured her for more dowry.  She also forced Boobathi to undergo abortion when she became pregnant the first time and also planned to marry off her son after separating the couple.

On April 4, Sulochana and her husband Kannan tied Boobathi’s hands and force-fed her poison. Sulochana then made the death appear as suicide, but police developed suspicion over the injury marks on the victim’s hand and mouth and grilled Sulochana. Finally, she confessed to her crime and both Sulochana and her husband were arrested.

A Kathir, executive director of Evidence, a Madurai-based human rights organisation, said that so far 25 honour killings had been reported in Tamil Nadu in the past 18 months.

A link to the article can be found here.