Uttar Pradesh: An Indian Muslim man allegedly cut his 15-year-old daughter’s throat with a meat cleaver before dumping her body on her boyfriend’s doorstep, in what police suspect is an “honour killing”.
The victim’s mother caught the boyfriend sneaking into her house and handed him over to local authorities, according to police officer Shivraj Singh. The family lives in Uttar Pradesh, India.
When the father found out, he allegedly returned home, murdered his daughter with a meat cleaver, and left her body on her boyfriend’s doorstep.
“We have arrested the father for her murder,” said Officer Singh.
Both Muslim families disapproved of the relationship, as the teenagers came from the same caste. Some Indians perceive inter-caste relationships as incestuous, despite the lack of shared genetics.
According to a 2014 report commissioned by the US Department of Justice, honour violence is a “mechanism to maintain or regain a family’s honour by punishing or eliminating girls or women whose actions invite rumours of sexual impropriety or disobedience.”
The report states that while the annual number of honour killings worldwide is unclear, 23 to 27 honour killings occur each year in the United States.
The practice is most common in the Islamic regions of the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia.
Ninety-three percent of victims are women, at an average age of 23, according to the report.
