New Delhi: The Supreme Court warned on Friday that it will not take “honour killing” lightly and requested a response from the Uttar Pradesh government on a woman’s request to have her uncle’s bail revoked after he reportedly colluded in the murder of her husband last year over inter-caste marriage.
A panel of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant grilled attorney MS Arya, who was representing Deepti Mishra, whose husband was reportedly murdered, before issuing a notice to the state government and others.
The bench found no specific claims against her uncle in the FIR, which only said that they were opposed to the marriage.
Deepti Mishra’s uncle Manikant Mishra and two sons were involved in the assault, according to the lawyer, and there had been earlier incidences for which the victim had filed many reports.
The bench said, “This is an honour killing matter and we don’t take it lightly”.
It, however, said, “Should we entertain this plea merely on the ground that respondent number two (Manikant Mishra) opposed the marriage. There is no specific allegation. There are no specific allegations. FIR does not say that he was there at the time of the incident or he was the conspirator.”
The Supreme Court first stated that it would not intervene, but MS Arya attempted to persuade the court by citing a series of threatening and assault episodes reported by the victim just prior to the murder.
According to Deepti Mishra’s appeal, which was filed through counsel CK Rai, the case involves “honour killing,” in which her husband was killed by her relatives only because he was of the Dhobi caste and married to a Brahmin girl.
Manikant Mishra, Deepti Mishra’s paternal uncle who was reportedly implicated in the conspiracy to kill her husband, was granted bail by the Allahabad High Court on December 17, last year.
According to the FIR, Deepti Mishra and her husband Anish Kumar were posted as Gram Panchayat officers in the state’s Gorakhpur district on December 9, 2019, where they solemnised a registered inter-caste marriage despite strong opposition from the petitioner’s family, which included Manikant Mishra.
Manikant Mishra’s identity was given in the FIR by his niece, according to the petition, and she also disclosed his name in a statement filed under section 161 of the CrpC.
“It is submitted that the name of respondent number 2 was also mentioned in the complaint filed by the deceased before the SSP, Gorakhpur, before his murder regarding the threat to kill given by Manikant Mishra on February 14, 2020,” the plea said.
It said that the petitioner’s uncle is the head of the family who has hatched the criminal conspiracy and instigated his two sons (also accused) to take active participation in the murder of the victim.
“That while granting the bail to respondent number 2, the High Court erred in not considering the fact that respondent number 2 earlier threatened the deceased for which a separate complaint had already been filed by the deceased before the murder,” the plea said. It added that out of 17 named and four unnamed accused persons, 10 accused persons are still on the run.
It said that on July 24, 2021, the husband of the petitioner Anish Kumar was brutally murdered in broad daylight and his uncle was badly injured by the accused persons and FIR was registered against the accused under various sections of IPC and SC/ST Act.
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