On Tuesday (7th November), a minor Muslim girl who was beaten and force-fed herbicide by her father Abees Muhammed for having a relationship with a boy of another religious community died at a private hospital in Kerala’s Kochi. The accused has been arrested by Aluva West Police.
In the shocking case of honour killing, the 14-year-old girl’s father Abees Muhammed hit his daughter with an iron rod and forcibly fed her herbicide on October 29. According to the FIR, accused Abees Muhammed tried to kill his daughter after he saw her talking to her boyfriend, a class 12th student, over the phone.
Irked by the girl’s attempt to talk to her non-Muslim boyfriend despite repeated warnings not to do so, accused Abees killed his 14-year-old daughter. The victim’s mother tried to stop the accused from forcibly pouring herbicide down the girl’s throat. However, her efforts went in vain. The victim’s mother later took the victim to the hospital.
As the victim was made to consume a significant quantity of herbicide, her internal organs were severely damaged and stopped working, resulting in the minor girl’s tragic death.
Reportedly, the victim and her father had a heated argument and accused Abees Muhammed threatened the girl to either consume the herbicide or he would.
The police said that accused Abees was opposed to his daughter’s relationship with a non-Muslim youth and had warned her to distance herself from her boyfriend. Earlier, when accused Abees had caught his daughter talking to her boyfriend, he snatched the mobile phone and destroyed it. However, the class 9th student girl continued to talk to the boy and was found using another phone. Both the girl and her boyfriend reportedly studied at the same school.
The 43-year-old accused, a native of Karumalloor, is an engineer with Vallarpadam container transhipment terminal in Kochi. Following the incident, the magistrate arrived at the hospital in Ernakulam and recorded the statements of the victim and her mother. Subsequently, accused Abees was arrested and since then he has been in judicial custody.
Initially, accused Abees Muhammed claimed that his daughter consumed herbicide on her own to commit suicide, however, the victim and her mother said in their statement that Abees forced-fed the herbicide to kill her for having a non-Muslim boyfriend.
At the time, police had booked Abees under sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 324 (hurting using a dangerous weapon), 326-A (causing serious injury), and 307 (murder attempt) of the IPC, as well as section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act. Meanwhile, the police have said that after the victim has died, relevant sections will be slapped against the accused.
Kerala Police said that the victim’s body will sent to Kalamassery Medical College for postmortem examination. The police added that they will soon be filing a chargesheet in the case.
