Honour killing not 'rarest of rare': Odisha court awards couple life in jail for daughter's murder

A sessions court in Odisha recently sentenced the parents of a 15-year-old girl to life imprisonment for murdering her after they came to know about her love affair with an older man..The parents were also found guilty of trying to bury evidence of their crime by burning their daughter's corpse and collecting the burnt ashes in plastic gunny bags that were then thrown into a river. Additional Sessions Judge Bijaya Kumar Jena identified the crime to be one of honour killing but added that it was not a 'rarest of rare' case in which the death penalty could be imposed. Judge Jena added that such acts of honour killing are increasingly common in society."Since this case does not come under the category of rearrest of rare case and such type of honour killing is taking place in the society, I sentence both the convicts (parents of the deceased) to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000/- each in default to undergo further imprisonment for a period of six months each for the offence U/s 302 IPC," the court's April 19 order said. .The crime took place in February 2016. A villager claimed that she had heard the deceased minor girl one night, pleading with her father to spare her life while promising that she would not continue her relationship with an older man. However, the girl was murdered. The villager further claimed that she saw the girl's parents cremating her body in a dried up pond the following morning. It was further claimed that the girl's parent's threw her body's ashes into plastic bags that were then disposed of in a river to hide evidence, with the help of some other villagers.The police booked the parents as well as the villagers accused of helping them bury evidence. Among the co-accused villagers was a man who was accused of repeatedly raping the minor girl, which relationship the parents had opposed. This man was booked for rape under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act). .The court examined the statements of 30 prosecution witnesses. After examining school records, the court confirmed that the deceased victim was a minor, being around 15 years old at the time of her death. Many witnesses admitted that the girl died about eight years ago but claimed they did not know how the crime was committed. As a result, the court declared them hostile witnesses.Notably, the woman who initially reported the incident told the court that she wasn't present at the crime scene and had signed a blank paper, which was later used to file the first information report (FIR) without her knowledge..The couple, however, had confessed to the police during interrogation that they killed their daughter, staged the scene to look like a suicide, then burned her body in a dry pond behind their house and scattered the ashes in a river. Although the couple later claimed that they were innocent, the court found that their confession to the police was supported by sufficient incriminatory material. The court, therefore, convicted them for the crime and sentenced them to life in prison. They were also given five years of rigorous imprisonment under Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code for destroying evidence.The court, however, acquitted the other co-accused villagers who had been accused to helping the couple bury evidence. Further, the man who was accused of raping the minor victim was also acquitted of the rape and POCSO charges against him.