The Manoj–Babli honour killing case was the honour killing of Indian newlyweds Manoj Banwala and Babli in June 2007 and the subsequent court case which historically convicted defendants for an honour killing. The accused in the murder included relatives of Babli (grandfather Gangaraj, who is said to have been a Khap leader,मनोज-बबली हत्याकांड में पांच को मौत की सजा, दो को उम्रकैद, March - 31 - 2010 brother, maternal and paternal uncles and two cousins). Relatives of Manoj, especially his mother, defended the relationship.
The killing was ordered by a khap panchayat (khap), a religious caste-based council among Jats, in their Karora village in Kaithal district, Haryana. The khap passed a decree prohibiting marriage against societal norms. Such caste-based councils are common in the inner regions of several Indian states, including Haryana, Punjab, western Uttar Pradesh and parts of Rajasthan, and have been operating with government approval for years. In any event, the state government expressed no concern about the ruling of the khap panchayat.
Among Jats the marriage within the same gotra is restricted and such marriage is considered invalid.The Khap panchayat's ruling was that Manoj and Babli belonged to the Banwala gotra, a Jat community, and were therefore considered to be siblings ( brother–sister relationship) and any union between them would be invalid and incestuous. Nevertheless, the couple went ahead with their marriage, following which they were abducted and killed by Babli's relatives.
Lal Bahadur Khowal the lawyer representing Manoj's family said that "The police was refusing to arrest the criminal, Ganga Raj. News reports pointed out how Panchayats around Haryana were being held in his favour and how khaps were issuing warnings against his arrest. A senior police officer made a statement in court saying that Ganga Raj can’t be arrested because his arrest could create a law and order situation. He said this in court! I was shocked to see a lawful authority unwilling to arrest an alleged criminal citing law and order."
Lal Bahadur Khowal expressed satisfaction with the court's decision, stating that the superintendent of police has been directed to take appropriate action against the negligent police officials. He praised the verdict, believing it will send a powerful message and restore the common man's trust in the judiciary. he said, adding, “Lighter punishment would have been a mockery of justice.”
In March 2010, a Karnal district court sentenced the five perpetrators to death, the first time an Indian court had done so in an honour killing case. The khap head who ordered but did not take part in the killings received a life sentence, and the driver involved in the abduction a seven-year prison term. According to Home Minister P. Chidambaram, the UPA-led central government was to propose an amendment to the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in response to the deaths of Manoj and Babli, making honour killings a "distinct offense".
Background Manoj's and Babli's families lived in Karora Village, Kaithal. Manoj's mother, Chanderpati Berwal, had four children, of whom Manoj was the eldest. Chanderpati was widowed at the age of 37, when Manoj was only 9. Manoj owned an electronics repair shop at Kaithal and was the only member of his family earning a livelihood. Manoj's cousin, Narender, lived with the family and worked in Panchkula.
Babli's mother, Ompati, also had four children, including eldest son, Suresh. Like Manoj, Suresh was the only bread winner of the family. Babli was still studying in school. Ompati is a widow.
Development of the relationship and subsequent marriage
In 2005, Manoj and Babli began to show interest in each other. Manoj was four years older than Babli. All residents of Karora village belong to the same clan, Banwala, a Jat community, and marrying within the clan is considered incest. Chanderpati recalled, "We knew about Babli long before they decided to marry each other. She would call up often and I would sermonise to her about staying away from Manoj, fearing the fallout of such an alliance. They were, however, unconcerned and chatted for hours together. If I did walk into the room while they were talking, Manoj would quickly disconnect the phone and run off to avoid any questioning." She continued, "I even went to Babli's house and told her mother that Manoj and Babli were seeing each other. I asked her to dissuade Babli or quickly marry her off before word of their dalliance spread."
On 5 April 2007, says Chanderpati, " The following morning, Babli's uncle came by to speak with Manoj. According to Chanderpati, "He said he had come to recover some money that Manoj had borrowed. I told him that Manoj was away for an exam. He accepted a cup of tea and left. We only discovered late in the evening that Babli, too, was missing and the two had run away." Instead of sleeping in the shop and studying in the night for his exam the next day, Manoj had eloped with Babli to Chandigarh on the night of 5th April 2007. Two days later, on 7 April at a Durga temple in Chandigarh, Manoj "married" Babli in an informal (and legally invalid) ceremony simply by applying vermilion to the parting of Babli's hair.
Furious with the marriage and fornication, Babli's family asked for intervention from the local khap panchayat, which annulled the so-called marriage. The khap also announced a social boycott on Manoj's family. Anyone who kept ties with them would be fined Rs. 25,000. Ompati claims to have tried to persuade her family that Babli did nothing dishonourable, and that she and Manoj would move back home soon.
Court appearance
On 26 April, Babli's family filed a First Information Report (FIR) against Manoj and his family for kidnapping Babli. On 15 June, Manoj went to court with Babli, testifying that they had married in conformity with the law and that he did not kidnap Babli. The judge ordered police protection for the two. Chandrapati did not attend the trial so that Babli's family would not be aware that Manoj and Babli were in town.
After the trial, Manoj and Babli, accompanied by a team of five police officers assigned to them for protection, left for Chandigarh. The police left them at Pipli and slipped away. Suspecting foul play, Manoj and Babli did not continue toward Chandigarh, instead boarding a bus for Karnal. According to a statement filed by Chanderpati, later that day, around 3:40 pm, she received a call from a Pipli telephone booth from Manoj, who said that the police had deserted them, and Babli's family members were trailing them, so they would try to take a bus to Delhi and call her back later. Babli asked for acceptance from Chanderpati, who replied affirmatively. That was the last time Manoj's family heard from the couple.
On 20 June, Chanderpati's complaint regarding the kidnapping was filed as an FIR at the Bhutana police station following media pressure on the police.
Kidnapping and murder The couple's bus left for Delhi, but en route at 4:30 pm, Babli's relatives stopped the bus near Raipur Jatan village, about from Pipli. They kidnapped the couple in a Scorpio SUV driven by Mandeep Singh. Kuldip Thekedar, a road contractor, witnessed the kidnapping and filed a complaint at the Butana police station in Karnal district, giving the licence plate number of the Scorpio.
Later, Chanderpati ascribed the murder to the unauthorised withdrawal of the couple's security team ignoring the orders given by the district and sessions judge (DSJ) of Kaithal. Upon receiving no further news, Chanderpati's nephew, Narendra Singh traced the contractor, and after he was shown a photo of the couple, the contractor recognised the couple. The family then understood that Manoj and Babli were the victims of the kidnapping.
After the kidnapping, the couple were beaten. Babli's brother Suresh forced her to consume pesticide, while four other family members pushed Manoj to the ground, her uncle Rajinder pulling a noose around Manoj's neck and strangling him in front of Babli. They wrapped the bodies in gunny sacks and dumped them in Barwala Link Canal in Hisar district. On 23 June, nine days later, their mutilated bodies, hands and feet tied, were fished out of the canal by Kheri Chowki police. After autopsy, police preserved Manoj's shirt and Babli's anklet and cremated the bodies as unclaimed on 24 June. On 1 July the family identified them by the remnants of their clothing. The accused were subsequently arrested.
Police discovered a number of articles in the Scorpio used to kidnap the couple—parts of Babli's anklet, two buttons from Manoj's shirt, and torn photographs of the couple. Manoj's purse was found on one of the accused.
Court judgement As no Karnal lawyer would take up the case, Manoj's family had to find lawyers from Hisar. Advocate Lal Bahadur Khowal, Cornel Omparkash, and Rakesh Manjhu from Hisar, Haryana accepted the case. Later on Adv. Sunil Rana from Karnal also accepted the case, arguing on their behalf public prosecutor Sunil Rana and Lal Bahadur Khowal argued that the couples' clothes recovered from the canal and photographs from the Scorpio established that day's happenings. Lal Bahadur Khowal also cited the contractor's statement and the last phone call from Manoj, in which Manoj had related that Babli's relatives were trailing them. However, the contractor "turned hostile" and withdrew his statement.
Arguing for the defence was lawyer Jagmal Singh. He asserted that there was no evidence against the accused and that it was all contrived by the media, no evidence that the khap panchayat ever met to discuss the fate of the couple, and no evidence indicating that Manoj and Babli were dead. The cremated bodies recovered from the canal were never confirmed to be those of Manoj and Babli.
On 29 March 2010, after 33 months of 50 hearings with 41 witnesses, the Karnal District court found the accused guilty of murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, and destroying evidence under respective sections in the IPC. The next day, 30 March, for the first time in Haryana state history, a death penalty verdict was announced in the double murder case for the five accused. All were related to Babli, and included her brother Suresh, cousins Gurdev and Satish, paternal uncle Rajender, and maternal uncle Baru Ram. The leader of the khap panchayat Ganga Raj (52), was given a life sentence for conspiracy, while the driver, Mandeep Singh, held guilty of kidnapping, was given a jail term of seven years. The court asked the Haryana government to provide a compensation of Rs. 100,000 to Chanderpati, who had filed the case. Ganga Raj was fined Rs. 16,000, and the other six convicts Rs. 6,000 each.
The court also accused six police personnel of dereliction of duty and directed the SSP of Kaithal to take action against them. The personnel included head constable Jayender Singh, sub-inspector Jagbir Singh, and the members of the escort party provided to the couple. They claimed that the couple wanted them to leave. The SSP's statement was that "[i]t is correct that the deceased couple had given in writing not to take police security any further, but Jagbir Singh was well aware that there was a threat to their lives from the relatives of the girl." The report stated that Jayender informed Gurdev Singh of the location of the police and that of Manoj and Babli over his mobile phone. Jayender was dismissed from the police force, and both he and Jagbir were penalised by a cut of two increments.
In her verdict, district judge Vani Gopal Sharma stated, "This court has gone through sleepless nights and tried to put itself in the shoes of the offenders and think as to what might have prompted them to take such a step." "Khap panchayats have functioned contrary to the constitution, ridiculed it and have become a law unto themselves."