“We have no remorse.” via Turned over to kin after elopement, Baghpat women killed by mothers.
Two Muslim women in an Uttar Pradesh town, 40 km east of Delhi, allegedly killed their daughters because they had eloped and married migrant Bihari Hindu labourers, police said.
The victims had sought police protection after they returned to their homes in Baghpat earlier this week, but the subdivisional magistrate sent them home to reconcile with their mothers.
On Wednesday night, Khatun and Subrato, both of whom are widows, allegedly tied their daughters, 19-year-old Zahida and 26-year-old Husna, to cots and threw a rope around their necks. They then held the girls down and tightened the noose until the victims suffocated to death, police said.
Khatun and Subrato have been arrested. A third woman called Momina, their neighbour in Baghpat’s Muslim-dominated Mughalpura area, who allegedly helped them commit the murders, is on the run.
“We killed them because they had brought shame to our community. How could they elope with Hindus? They deserved to die. We have no remorse,” Khatun and Subrato said Friday.
The women said each killed her daughter at home. Police, however, suspect that Khatun, Subrato and Momina committed the murders together, strangling the victims one after another. Khatun and Subrato live in different lanes in the same locality.
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“Preliminary investigations reveal that the two women assisted each other to kill their respective daughters. Both the cases appear to be honour killings, as initial probe indicates that the two mothers – Khatoon and Subrato – killed their daughters after they learnt about their affair with youths of the same locality,” police Inspector A.K. Kushan told reporters in Baghpat, some 400 km from Lucknow.
“The two women were arrested late Thursday. We started our investigations after we became suspicious about the two deaths after Zahida’s sister approached us, suspecting foul play behind the incidents,” he added.
According to police, Khatoon first killed her daughter Zahida with the with the help of Subrato.
“The two strangulated Zahida while she was sleeping. Later, Husno was killed in similar manner,” said Kushan.
“We believe other members of the family could also be involved in the killings. Investigations are on in this regard,” he added.
