In what is being seen as an honour killing, a 19-year-old woman was murdered allegedly by her father and two brothers at Rajpara village in Sihor taluka of Bhavnagar district on Thursday for marrying into a lower caste.

According to the Sihor police, Hetal Ravchaka, the deceased, was stabbed to death by her father Jeta Rathod, while two brothers Raju and Sanjay assisted him in the crime this morning.

Hetal had received severe wounds on the throat and stomach, and was rushed to a local hospital. However, she was declared dead on arrival by the doctors on duty.

Jeta has been arrested, while his two sons are at large , the police said. A case of murder has been lodged against the three under sections 302 and 114 of the Indian Penal Code, pertaining to murder and forming an illegal group.

The police said the accused were unhappy over Hetal's decision to marry 34-year-old Devji Ravchaka, a Harijan, two years ago. After the woman, a Koli by caste, married Ravchaka from the same village in 2006, the Rathods cut all ties with her.

"Jeta Rathod couldn't tolerate the fact that her daughter had done love marriage outside their caste. He took it as an insult of his caste," said Circle Inspector M H Patel, who is investigating the case.

Vadodara witnessed similar incident in May
VADODARA: IN a similar incident, a 19-year-old woman was killed by her father in Vadodara on May 12. She too had had an inter-caste love marriage. Jaiveersinh Bhaduria had hacked his daughter to death after a gunshot missed her at his residence. He had called the estranged daughter to his home in Parthbhumi Society in the Makarpura area on some pretext. After killing his daughter, Bhaduria himself called up police and confessed to the crime. According to the Makarpura police, the victim, Vandana, had married one Mayur Marathe, resident of Dev-Na-Faliya in Wadi-Navapura area, in November 2007 against her father's wish.

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