Morena, Oct 2
In a case that has plunged the Chambal-Gwalior region of Madhya Pradesh into grief and outrage, police have arrested Bharat Sikarwar and his wife for the alleged murder of their 17-year-old daughter, Divya Sikarwar, a Class 12 student.
Alongside the arrest of her parents, police have registered a case against 23 others, naming 11 individuals, while the remaining suspects remain unidentified.
The incident, suspected to be an “honour killing”, has reignited fierce debate over caste orthodoxy and the violent lengths to which families go to preserve it.
Divya was reportedly shot dead inside her home on the night of September 23. Her decomposed body was recovered five days later from the Kunwari River, wrapped in plastic and tethered to a stone -- an attempt, perhaps, to sink both the evidence and the shame, police officials said.