BENGALURU: A 16-year-old girl, who was poisoned to death by her parents for eloping with a dalit boy was cremated on Sunday night.
Ranjitha, a girl from K G Hosahalli village in Ramanagaram taluk, was poisoned by her father Govindaraju (45) with the help of his wife Jayalakshmi (37). Though the parents had initially said that Ranjitha committed suicide by consuming poison, police later found out that it was her parents who poisoned her food.
Ranjitha was staying at her elder sister Manjula’s house in Sunkadakatte on Magadi Road in Bengaluru. She was working in a garment factory in the city.
During her stay in the city, she fell in love with Manjunath (25), who was her neighbour. Ranjitha was sent back to her village after Manjula came to know about the affair.
However, the girl kept in touch with Manjunath over phone and on September 6, she eloped with him.
A missing complaint was filed by Ranjitha’s parents. Later, the couple was identified in Dharwad and was arrested by police. Manjunath was booked in a kidnapping case under POCSO Act as Ranjitha was a minor.
Police counselled the girl and sent her away with her parents.
The girl’s parents poisoned food was poisoned on Saturday night and she died at around 4 am on Sunday. The parents confessed to their involvement in killing Ranjitha. Post-mortem reports said that Ranjitha died to due poisoning.
KSCW to Create Awareness
Following the honour killing, the Karnataka State Women Commission (KSCW) has decided to conduct a statewide awareness campaign against this practice.
Speaking to Express, KSCW Manjula Manasa said, “Honour killing and other crimes against women are still prevalent in the state. In order to curb this, KSCW, will take up the Ramanagaram case where parents killed their daughter for having an affair with a Dalit boy.”