Death of 16-year-old girl: Parents arrested for `honour' killing

TNN | Updated: Oct 14, 2017, 09:50 IST

HIGHLIGHTS

The girl's father R Gnanavel and mother Seethalakshmi had told the police that she committed suicide due to severe stomach pain

On being interrogated, the parents confessed to an 'honour' killing, saying they had murdered Annalakshmi after a fight with her over her “licentious behavior“

MADURAI: Madurai district police on Friday arrested a couple for the alleged murder of their 16-year-old daughter. This comes a day after the Allahabad high court acquitted Rajesh and Nupur Talwar in the double murder case of their daughter Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj. Police said the victim G Annalakshmi, a resident of Kilavaneri village near Tirumangalam was found dead on October 7. The girl's father R Gnanavel and mother Seethalakshmi had told the police that she committed suicide due to severe stomach pain. Further investigations and post mortem report, however, revealed that the girl was murdered, said police.

On being interrogated, the parents confessed to an 'honour' killing, saying they had murdered Annalakshmi after a fight with her over her "licentious behavior".

Annalakshmi had dropped out of school after failing in Class X board examinations and had been attending tutorial classes in an attempt to pass the exams.That's when she came in contact with a few boys. Since then Annalakshmi was seen texting boys and occasionally meeting them, which did not go down well with her parents who kept warning her, police said.

The parents came down heavily on her when fellow villagers started speaking ill about her. During an argument with the girl on the matter on October 7, Gnanavel allegedly strangulated her in a fit of rage. As she fell down unconscious the parents thought she was dead and hanged the body to convince others that she had committed suicide, police said.

LATEST COMMENTHang that idiot couple to death killing their 16-year-old daughter.Evans Chris Sumitra

The couple made others believe that their daughter was depressed over her poor performance in studies. She had recently developed stomach pain as well.

Although the police had initially registered a case of suspicious death, the postmortem report that they received on Thursday suggested that she was murdered.