Delhi: Father slits throat of girl over ‘friendship’ with boy in suspected honour killing

In a suspected case of honour killing, a 40-year-old man allegedly stabbed his 13-year-old daughter to death on Wednesday because he was allegedly enraged over her friendship with a man who runs a mobile shop in their neighbourhood in east Delhi’s Karawal Nagar, police said.

The body of the girl was found dumped near a drain at Tronica City area of Loni in Ghaziabad on Friday, two days after she was reported missing from her Karawal Nagar house.

Police said the girl’s father said he had discovered her body, almost ten kilometres away from his home, even as the Karawal Nagar police, who had registered her kidnapping case, had failed make any headway in the case.

AK Singla, deputy commissioner of police (northeast), said the girl’s father, Sudesh Kumar, was arrested on Saturday after they identified that the motorcycle on which the girl was seen riding pillion in a couple of CCTV cameras belonged to him. The helmet that the man, who was riding the motorcycle, matched with Kumar’s helmet that the police found in his home.

“We first allowed the family to perform the last rites of the girl. Kumar was taken into custody and interrogated. He was confronted with the CCTV footage and other evidences we had collected against him during the probe. Kumar confessed to the crime after which we arrested him,” said Singla, adding Kumar runs a pastry shop.

During the interrogation, Singla said, Kumar revealed that his daughter befriended a mobile shop owner in their neighbourhood. Around a year ago, Kumar had seen his daughter with the man and had scolded her for it. The father had asked her to stay away from him. He had also warned the mobile shop owner with dire consequences if he continued meeting his daughter.

“But despite Kumar’s repeated warnings, his daughter continued meeting the man. Kumar told police that he lost his cool when he saw his daughter with the man on Tuesday and decided to teach him a lesson,” said DCP Singla.

On Wednesday, Singla said, the girl left home, saying she was going to buy momos. Kumar suspected that she was lying and was actually going to meet her friend. He picked up a knife, followed his daughter and found her with the man again. Seeing Kumar, the man fled leaving the girl alone.

“Kumar then asked her to sit on his bike. He took her to an isolated place in Tronica City and slit her throat multiple times with the knife. He also stabbed his daughter in her face,” said a police officer associated with the case. After killing his daughter, Kumar dumped the knife and his clothes with blood stains in the drain.

“He returned home and then went to the police station with his family members to file his daughter’s missing complaint,” said the officer, adding they have recovered the knife and the clothes from the drain.