Nerul murder classic case of honour killing, says Bombay HC

Mumbai: Terming the murder of a 16-year-old Dalit boy, who was beaten to death in Nerul in Navi Mumbai for having an affair with an upper caste girl, a classic case of honour killing, the Bombay high court has refused to grant bail to a member of the group that had assaulted the boy. The court in its order has also reprimanded the police for its attitude both pre and post incident.

While rejecting the bail plea, Justice Sadhna Jadhav said, “It is an unfortunate incident wherein police has shown zero sensitivity.” The judge said Swapnil Sonavane could have been saved “but the police officers were busy posing as Bollywood cops and referring to movies in which there were cases of elopement of young boys and girls.”

The court was hearing the bail plea filed by Durgesh Patil who had contended that he was arrested just because he was with the brother of the girl at the time of incident. However the judge noted that public prosecutor Arfan Sait pointed out that as per the applicant’s call data records, he was the one who called other accused to form unlawful assembly and later this group assaulted Swapnil who died.

“All the accused would be equally liable for the unfortunate death of the boy,” said the judge adding, “It is more unfortunate that the victim girl has also been arraigned as an accused. The police has blown the incident out of proportion by arraigning the young girl as an accused only for public satisfaction. The erring officers were suspended only to give a signal that erring officers can be punished by the department, however, soon thereafter, their suspension has been revoked,” said the judge.