16-year-old widow stabbed to death by her brother-in-law in south Delhi

NEWDELHI: A 16-year-old “widow” was stabbed to death allegedly by her brother-in-law in south Delhi’s Tajpur Pahari near Badarpur on Monday night.

The brother-in-law, and his two friends who were with him at the time of the crime, are absconding, the police said.

Investigators said the girl’s family members have told them that her in-laws — the brother-inlaw in particular — blamed her for the death of her 19-year-old husband, who had reportedly committed suicide by hanging himself at his home in Haryana’s Faridabad two months ago.

Police officials said the couple, both under the minimum legal age to get married, eloped and got married against the wishes of their families around a year ago.

Although the exact reason behind the husband’s suicide is yet to be ascertained, the team probing the girl’s murder has learnt that the couple used to have frequent fights. Since her husband’s death, the girl had been living with her mother in south Delhi’s Khanpur, the police said. On the day of the murder, the girl was visiting her grandmother’s house in Tajpur Pahari.

Deputy commissioner of police (southeast) Chinmoy Biswal said the police control room received a call at 7.46pm reporting girl’s stabbing. A police team reached the spot and found a girl lying unconscious with stab wounds on the roof of her grandparents’ home. She was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors declared her brought dead.

She was stabbed around half a dozen times in her abdomen with a knife, police officials said.

“The girl’s grandparents and mother told us that her brotherin-law had come to meet her in the evening along with his two friends. The girl went to use the washroom on the first floor. The brother-in-law followed her. He stabbed her five-six times on the terrace. His two friends and the girl’s family members were on the ground floor at the time,” said Biswal.

The girl’s family members told the police they were unaware of the murder until they discovered her body on the terrace after the three men had left. “The family members told us they did not hear her scream. Also, they said they did not see the brother-in-law leaving with a knife or notice any blood stains on his clothes,” said a police officer associated with the case.

“Our teams are conducting raids i n Faridabad and Delhi to nab the suspects,” added the officer.