In a shocking incident, a young girl was battered to death by her father as she had refused to marry a youth selected by him and insisted on marrying a Dalit youth of the same village.
The gory incident, which came to light on Saturday, occurred at M Venkatayapalem in Khammam Rural mandal on Friday night.
According to the police, Konda Mamata (20), a second-year student of government degree college here, had allegedly been in love with a Dalit youth for the past three years and pressing her parents to allow her to marry him.
But her request was turned down by the parents, particularly her father Chandraiah, a tailor, and they fixed her marriage to a youth belonging their caste (Merudarji). A function, as part of the wedding preparation, was held at the house on Friday. It was attended by scores of their relatives. After all the guests had left the place, the girl again expressed her strong desire to marry the man of her choice which led to yet another bout of heated argument between the two. In a fit of rage, Chandraiah hit his daughter with an axe, which resulted in the girl’s death on the spot. Shaken by what he had done, Chandraiah, along with his wife Satyavati, left the house. Khammam Rural police SI Nagaraju, CI Tirupathi Reddy and DSP P Balakishna visited the spot.