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New Delhi: A minor was detained after beheading his 19-year-old sister for marrying a man of her choice, in Ladgaon village of Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district.
The 17-year-old boy’s mother was arrested. The two also clicked a selfie with the severed head.
Times of India has reported Superintendent of Police Nimit Goyal as having said that the minor was inspired by a Marathi film. He used a sickle to kill his sister while she was making tea for him and their mother at her marital home.
The mobile phone on which the now-deleted selfie was clicked has been sent for forensic analysis, police said.
NDTV has reported that the 19-year-old was pregnant.
The deceased had registered her marriage with a 20-year-old man after eloping with him in June. She has, since then, been living with her husband in Ladgaon village.
The report says that while this is not an inter-caste marriage, the young woman was blamed for bringing “disrepute” to her family and that the murder could have been a premeditated one. The woman’s mother appears to have rekindled ties recently in an effort to commit the crime, local authorities told Time of India.
NDTV has reported that the brother attempted to kill the husband as well, but was unable to.
In many places in India, marriage within one’s community and arranged by elders remains the norm, with studies suggesting that most Indians still follow rigours that were in place two generations ago when it comes to marriage.