Honour killing: Death sentence for father, uncle

PANCHKULA: Even as the Supreme Court was treading cautiously on capital punishment -- it had stayed the hanging of 15 convicts in April -- a local court on Wednesday sentenced two persons to death in an honour killing case.
Panchkula district and sessions judge held Shaukeen and Salim guilty under sections 302 (murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, and ordered them to be hanged till death.The judge relied on the SC verdict in the Bhagwan Das versus Delhi case that directed "to treat all instances of honour killing under the category of rarest of rare cases". Tahira, a Muslim, was brutally killed by Salim (her uncle) and father Shaukeen. Both had conspired to kill her in September 2013 after finding out she was having an affair with a boy of the same community, Wasim alias Gola. Two other accused, brother and cousin of the victim, were also part of the conspiracy. They were facing trial before a juvenile court in Ambala. Public prosecutor Amit Parmar said it was a well-planned honour killing. The court has done justice to the girl, he added.
According to police, Shaukeen had sent his daughter Tahira from her hometown Muzaffarnagar to Khangesra, near Panchkula, to his brother Salim. Shaukeen had told his brother that if his daughter persisted on marrying the boy, he should kill her. Police had also claimed that Shaukeen had given instructions to Salim to kill Tahira if she did not oblige them.
When police arrested Salim, he revealed his brother Shaukeen's involvement.
A case for criminal conspiracy under Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code was registered on October 23, 2013, against both the brothers at Chandimandir police station. During the investigation, it came to light that Salim had killed the girl by strangulating her with a pillow with the help of his son who had grabbed her legs. Initially, the body was dumped in the fields in Khangesra but later it was shifted and thrown near a rivulet in Alipur village, near Khangesra.