Father, brother and brother-in-law arrested for 'honour killing' of Shamli girl

MUZAFFARNAGAR: Late evening on Wednesday, three people were arrested for the murder of a 22-year-old girl, whose body was recovered on August 31 from Shamli’s Jalalabad village, and was initially claimed to have run away from home. Those arrested include the girl’s father and brother.


According to police sources, Gulasha and Asif, both residents of Jalalabad village under Shamli , had become involved in a relationship.

Last year, the duo disappeared from the village, but later returned voluntarily. Since then, Gulashan’s family had been trying to fix her marriage, but her relationship with Asif continued. As she kept meeting Asif, her family warned her against it but to no avail.

Then on August 31, Gulasha’s body was recovered from the jungle, 500m from her house. A passerby informed Thanbhawan police station, whose team sent the body for postmortem. The autopsy report revealed she had been strangled to death 48 hours before her body was recovered.

On the basis of the report, police put all family members on surveillance, eventually arresting three — her father Niyamat, brother Nazakat, and brother-in-law Sharafat — who, during interrogation, accepted their crime, said Thanabhawan SHO Sandeep Baliyan.

“A case under section 302 (murder) of IPC was registered against the three, who have been sent to jail,” the SHO added.

According to police, when the family’s threats didn’t stop the girl from continuing her affair, they strangled her and then left her body hanging from a tree in the jungle to make it look like suicide.

Such incidents of “honour killing” are quite common in these parts. In January 2018, an 18-year-old girl’s father was arrested for her murder, after she went missing for 40 days in Tewda village under Muzaffarnagar. Police claimed her parents had killed the girl after discovering she was in an illicit relationship. Her body was eventually exhumed from their home, where she had been buried to avoid suspicion. A case of murder was lodged against the parents.