Radicalisation Of Indian Muslims -2

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<b>Daughter chopped for eloping</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Lucknow, July 16: A teenage Muslim girl was killed by her parents last night and her body chopped into pieces because she dared to elope and marry the man she loved.

Mohsina Akhtar’s murder came to light when Muzaffarnagar police stopped three persons carrying a huge gunny bag. Inside were pieces of the 18-year-old’s body and a chopper and an axe used in the “honour killing”.

Superintendent of police (rural) Arvind Pandey said the three — Mohsina’s mother Iqbal Jehan, maternal uncle Kallu Mohsin and brother Mohsin — confessed they were on their way to dump the pieces in a canal near Lalauna, the west Uttar Pradesh village where Mohsina was murdered.

Pandey said Iqbal told him it was the body of a “shaitan” (devil). “Yeh shaitan meri beti thi. Humne unko maar dala (This devil was my daughter. We have killed her).”

“All three admitted that they killed Mohsina because she loved a Muslim boy from a neighbouring village and married him after eloping a month back,” the officer said. “I have handled many such incidents of honour killing but this was one of the most gruesome.”

Police sources said the girl’s father, Mohammad Akhtar, who hasn’t been arrested, will be questioned tomorrow.

Senior superintendent of police Sushil Kumar said Iqbal, who has another daughter, didn’t betray any remorse. “When they were produced in court today, she was silent, as were Kallu and Mohsin. Iqbal said she had to kill her. She said she was not feeling good after the murder but has no regrets,” the SSP added.

Residents said one reason for the lack of regret is the increasing social recognition such honour killings — common in the northwest frontier region of Pakistan — are getting in western Uttar Pradesh.

<b>“Villagers often pool money to bear the legal expenses of a family that kills a wayward daughter,” said a resident of adjoining Baghpat</b>.

“An elopement makes it difficult for a family to get a match for other daughters,” said Rajiv Soni, a social worker.

<span style='color:red'>According to police files, 23 cases of honour killings have been reported in the Baghpat-Muzaffarnagar-Saharanpur-Bijnor region since 2006, including six this year in Muslim families. Yesterday, a woman who had been forced into marriage was shot dead by her brother for refusing to go to her marital home</span>.

“I suspect hardcore fundamentalist elements are encouraging these incidents,” said Shaista Amber, a member of the All India Muslim Women’s Personal Law Board.

Mohsina had fallen in love with Mukhtar Mahmud, 20, a resident of Bilaspur, a village about 2km from her home. The family had recently shifted to Lalauna, where Mohsina’s maternal uncles live, and found that neighbours knew about the affair. Her uncle Kallu told the police that the family tried to stop her as society frowns upon such relationships.

But Mohsina and Mukhtar eloped and got married last month. Soon, the whispers — “inki ladki bhaag gai hai” — got louder. The family’s instant reaction was fear of social ostracism. Iqbal had to marry off another daughter. So Mohsina had to be killed.

<b>Unconfirmed reports said a small group of elderly residents also ruled that Mohsina should be killed to protect the family’s honour. </b>

The young couple made the mistake of returning home last week. Last night, Mohsina was hanged from a ceiling fan of a room in her maternal uncles’ house. Her body was then taken to a cattle shed where it was cut into pieces.
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