A man allegedly killed his teenaged daughter with the help of his son over a love affair at a village in Moradabad district in west Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday.

The purported honour killing took place at Rani Nagla village in Bhojpur after 17-year-old Neelam Kashyap arrived at her friend Mohit Yadav’s house early in the morning and urged his father Veerbhan to get them married.

“The boy’s parents were not ready for it. They informed the girl’s parents about it. Initially, they refused to come. However, the father of the girl went to the boy’s house after an hour and spoke to her. When she refused to listen to him, he went back to his home and returned with his son Mohit Kashyap,” said Vidya Sagar Mishra, superintendent of police of Moradabad (rural).

He said Neelam’s father Subhas asked Mohit Kashyap to kill her. “The boy picked up an axe kept there and hacked his sister to death on the spot,” Mishra said.
He said the Class XII student died of multiple injuries on her head and shoulders.

“We have taken into custody Subhas and Veerbhan and are interrogating them. Neelam’s brother is absconding. The body has been sent for post-mortem,” the officer said.
However, the villagers claimed that Subhas attacked his daughter with an axe while his son Mohit stabbed her with a knife. The father of the boy was standing there and encouraging them to kill her, they said.

Neelam and Mohit Yadav used to study in the same school in the village but he had failed his Class X exams and dropped out.

In west Uttar Pradesh both the Kashyaps and Yadavs belong to the backward classes, but the latter are considered economically stronger.

“The girl’s father and brother were under pressure as they would have been attacked by the Yadavs eventually if they didn’t try to keep Neelam away from her friend,” a villager told reporters on the condition of anonymity.

‘Top 10’ criminals

The Uttar Pradesh government asked the police on Wednesday to identify the top 10 criminals in each police station of the state and take action against them, additional chief secretary, home, Awanish Awasthi, said.