Honor Killing? Dead woman`s family tried to pass the case as `suicide`, forensic exposes their claims

In a suspected case of 'honour killing', a 20-year-old woman, who eloped with a man belonging to a different community, was allegedly killed by her family members at their home in Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior city, a police official said on Thursday. After the incident on August 2, the family members tried to pass it off as a case of suicide, but the forensic report refuted their claim, following which the woman's father and brother were arrested on Wednesday while search was on for three other absconding accused, he said.

The woman left with a man from a different community on June 5 and came back on July 7. After she disappeared, her parents filed a missing person's report at Janakganj police station, city Superintendent of Police Atmaram Sharma said.

After she returned, the police sent her to a women's shelter home, he said.

On July 31, the woman gave her consent to stay with her parents following which she came back home. Later, on August 2, her father went to the police station and claimed that his daughter had committed suicide by hanging herself, the official said.

A police team along with forensic experts then went to the spot to conduct an investigation into the matter. The official said after examining the spot, police got suspicious and later, forensic experts in their report also said the woman did not commit suicide, but was hanged by others.

He said when the woman's father and other relatives were questioned, they told the police that they had killed her and tried to pass it off as a case of suicide. The police subsequently arrested the victim's father and brother and registered a case of murder, the official said.

Search was on for three other absconding accused - the woman's uncle and two cousin brothers, he added.