On August 18, Abbas and Kamrul Nisha, a middle-aged Muslim couple, were allegedly beaten to death in Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh. The grisly crime, according to media reports, was committed in vengeance for their son eloping with a Hindu girl a few years prior.
The Indian Express reported that the woman’s family members, who come from the same area as the pair, are suspected of carrying out the attack. The woman’s brother, brother-in-law, and a family friend have all been taken into custody. According to the IE story, the girl’s parents are still being sought by the authorities. The five accused have been booked for rioting, murder, and assault. The police have extended protection to the interfaith couple and refused to divulge their location. It has been provided that the latter left the village a day before the parents of the man were attacked.
Speaking on the case, Sitapur Superintendent of Police (SP) Chakresh Mishra provided that “We got information that there was a fight between the two sides and two people died. The police reached the spot and found that a couple aged around 50 years had been killed. Their neighbours told us that another family in the neighbourhood attacked the couple with iron rods. The couple died on the spot. We are getting the post-mortem done. A police force has been deployed in the village.”
The police said the rivalry between the two families started after the adult son of the deceased couple eloped with the girl for the first time. As per the report of the IE, the inter faith couple had eloped for the first time in the year 2020. Reportedly, the girl was a minor then. The Muslim boy had been booked under charges of kidnapping, rape, and sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), and had to spend more than one year in jail. Pursuant to this, the couple eloped for the second time when the girl turned 18. She had also given a statement to the court that she was leaving her family of her own volition when another case had been lodged against her partner.
“The son, 28, of the deceased couple, was booked in 2020 for eloping with a minor girl. The case was lodged after a complaint was received from the girl’s family. He was subsequently arrested and spent 13 months in jail. A few months ago, the girl turned 18 and became an adult and the two again ran away. Another case was lodged and they were found, but this time the girl gave a statement in court in favour of her partner. The man was again arrested around two months ago in connection with a separate case and released on bail just a few days back,” Mishra stated as he provided a background of the case, as per the IE.
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