GADAG: The district court in Gadag in Karnataka sentenced on Friday four people to death in connection with a so-called “honour killing” in 2019.
All four accused – Parashuram Rathod, Shivappa Rathod, Ravi Rathod, and Ramesh Rathod – were relatives of Gangamma Rathod, 23, who, along with her husband Ramesh Madar, 29, were murdered two years after the couple’s inter-caste marriage.
Gangamma, a member of the Lambani community and a worker at a garment factory, had fallen in love with Ramesh, a driver, belonging to the Madiga community.
Despite resistance from Gangamma’s family, the two fled their village and married in 2017. Thereafter, they resided in Shivamogga and Bengaluru and had two children.
Assuming that time would have healed the ill-feeling in Gangamma’s family over their marriage and that they had probably been forgiven, the two returned to their native Lakkalkatti on Deepavali in 2019.
However, Parashuram and the others murdered them on Nov 6, 2019, following which Gajendragad police registered a case under multiple sections of the IPC and submitted a chargesheet on Jan 18, 2020.