Indian Man Beheads Daughter Over Lifestyle

20-year-old Manju Kunwar had been living with her parents in Rajasthan, India for two years, ever since she left her husband. Two weeks ago, she eloped with another man.

On Sunday, her father forced her to return home.

On Monday, he beheaded her.

According to police, her conservative Hindu father , Ogad Singh became increasingly upset because his daughter was engaged in a “series of affairs” with men.

Not only did he behead her, he paraded her head through his village before turning himself in to authorities. The police found the rest of Kunwar’s body at their home.

This is yet another tragic example of an archaic set of rules being forcefully applied to a modern world, and this is by no means the first time something like this has happened. India has recently been rated as the worst of the G20 nations in the world for women, according to a poll by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. It’s not hard to see why.

On the one hand, India had a female prime minister back in the 1960s… but on the other hand, as Shemeer Padinzjharedil, who runs Maps4aid.com, which documents crimes against women, puts it:

As a child, she faces abuse, rape and early marriage and even when she marries, she is killed for dowry. If she survives all of this, as a widow she is discriminated against and given no rights over inheritance or property.

Kunwar’s mother was farming at the time of her daughter’s murder, and was “too distraught to talk.”

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antdrew

Absolutely disgusting!!!
Jonny Scaramanga

OK, do we know if the motivation for this was cultural or religious? A friend of mine, a moderate Muslim, says many punishments that people think of as Islamic are in fact cultural Arabic things, not from the Koran. I take him at his word on this, although he is fairly devout, so he might be defending his religion too much.

Of course, the man in this story isn’t an Arab (and was actually a Hindu, I note), but I still don’t see anything in the story which explicitly makes it clear this is religiously motivated.

Either way, it’s still an act of ignorance, and education is the solution, but I’m interested to know the causes.
Jenny

It makes me cry to see this sort of thing reported over and over again. And yet, today,
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2285.html

Its such a story of contrasts.
Mary P.

Right, about it being a cultural issue.

From the article:

“Laws alone can only play 20 percent of the role
in empowering women in this country,” said judge Katju.

“Eighty percent of the role will be played by
education, by changing the mindset, the mentality of men who are still to a
large extent feudal-minded which means they regard women as
inferior.”

Still, I wonder if this father would use his religion to somehow justify his crime.
Andrew Hall

Oh, I’ve written about the Hindu-industrial complex that plagues India a number of times, and have gotten into heated discussions with Hindus on Twitter. And to get a little ranty — it pisses me off that Hinduism gets a free pass in the West.

Currently there is a Youtube channel called Video Volunteers that document the widespread discrimination against the Dalit (untouchables) in India. The videos are sad to watch.
L.Long

And if SOMEHOW managed to defend herself and kill the arsehole, she would have been thrown in jail and executed for murder. Women there are definitely in a lose-lose situation.
digitalatheist

OH, but religion is good for morals and humanity toward your fellow man. Judas’ Goat.
digitalatheist

Unless you actually read Al’Quran, and realize that yes, like The Bible, you can enforce anything you want, and it is Totally 100% correct. And yes, I have read Al’Quran from one cover to the next.
Pseudonym

I wonder if this father would use his religion to somehow justify his crime.

It sounds like he’d use pretty much anything available to justify his crime.
Rich Wilson

Other reports have talked about how he went through town with her head. Sounds like the guy had a complete psychotic break. I don’t mean to dismiss the role religion played in him making him nucking futs, but the fact is, he was.
Woody Tanaka

You are absolutely right. But don’t forget that Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman in space, but did so twenty years almost to the day before the US put Sally Ride up. (Tereshkova landed 49 years ago, today.) As good as it is, the US still has a way to go.
A Portlander

That’s an Irish annular s-hilt arming sword, a martial artifact of a nation that is doing admirable socio-religious housecleaning by ending special privilege for the Catholic Church and exposing generations of institutional abuse to daylight and condemnation. You want a talwar or khanda. Icons matter.