Three of Dalit family shot dead in Sonepat, honour killing suspected
ROHTAK: Three members of a Dalit family were killed and two hospitalised after unidentified assailants opened fire at them in Sonepat’s Kuldeep Nagar colony late on Friday night.
The deceased were identified as Pradeep Kumar, 27, who worked in a factory, his mother Sunita, 45, and father Suresh Kumar, 47. His pregnant wife Susheela and brother Suraj, 24, were admitted to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Rohtak with bullet injuries, where their condition is stable.
Susheela, mother of a threeyear-old girl and nine-month pregnant, suffered three bullet wounds and had to be operated upon at night to save the child. She delivered a boy, who is also safe, said doctors. Recalling the incident, Suraj, undergoing treatment at the PGIMS, said: “We were sleeping when some men started shouting out my brother’s name. When he went out to check, they opened fire at him. When my ‘bhabhi’, parents and I rushed outside, the three assailants attacked us too. I gained consciousness after some time and informed my uncle, who arranged an ambulance.”
Police officer Karambir Singh said they were trying to ascertain if the assailants used a white SUV to reach the incident site.
“We have learnt that Susheela’s brother Monu has been using a stolen white Duster for a while now,” Singh said. “Though a murder case has been registered against unidentified people, we believe Susheela’s family members may be behind the crime.”
Most of the honour killings are committed by family members for romantic liaisons or for marrying against set societal norms. Activists say the crime is under-reported and many such killings are covered up. Convictions for such crimes are also very rare.
Haryana, which has a very patriarchal society, is one of the states with a high rate of the so-called honour killings. Last year, one of the state’s khaps -- traditional village bodies – had asked people to stop girls above ten years from wearing jeans and using mobile phones to end honour killings.