Honour killing: Couple stoned to death in Andhra

In a case of honour killing,a man belonging to a lower caste and his newly-wed upper caste wife were stoned to death by angry villagers...

In a case of honour killing,a man belonging to a lower caste and his newly-wed upper caste wife were stoned to death by angry villagers led by the girls father. Thirty-two-year-old Sankara Srinivas and 22-year-old Swapna Reddy had eloped from their village and got married four months ago inviting the wrath of the upper caste Reddy community,Nizamabad Superintendent of Police B Venkateshwara Reddy said.

The incident happened in Krishanjivadi village in Tadwai Mandal of Nizamabad district late on Wednesday night. Their bodies were found on Thursday morning by farm labourers who alerted the police.

Tadwai Circle Inspector Vijay Kumar said the girls father led the attack and the involvement of other family members and several villagers belonging to the Reddy community is suspected.

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The girls family as well as several villagers belonging to the Reddy community were against the marriage as the boy was from lower caste and was already married. He also had two children from his first wife.

After their marriage,the couple had been living in Hyderabad where Srinivas was working as a data entry operator. Circle Inspector Vijay Kumar said the couple had come to the village three days ago and were staying at Srinivass house.

Srinivas and his parents,who were allegedly being harassed by the girls family,were trying to broker peace with the girls family and members of the Reddy community. Srinivas,too,wanted to talk to the village elders and convince them to accept their relationship. Police could not confirm if Srinivas had divorced his first wife or not.

On Wednesday night,Swapnas family called her to tell her that she should not be living in a house of a lower caste family. Her father called the couple for a discussion but they did not go. Late in the night, people from the Reddy community led by the girls father Padmareddy Balareddy attacked the house where the couple was staying. They dragged the couple to a deserted corner where they thrashed them first. After that,the attackers bludgeoned the couple with stones, Inspector Vijay Kumar said.

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Police said that although other villagers knew of the incident and had seen the bodies lying in a pool of blood,they did not call the police fearing reprisal from the Reddy community.

About a year ago,Swapna had gone missing from the village and her had family lodged a missing complaint. However,she returned three months later and told her parents that she had gone on on her own and did not reveal her lovers identity. Her family remained in the dark till she eloped with Swapna four months ago.

No arrests have been made so far. Police said the girls family members and at least 30 villagers have fled from the village after the incident.