A teenager has been arrested in the Indian state of Maharashtra for allegedly beheading his 19-year-old pregnant sister on Sunday afternoon. The young woman was reportedly making tea for her brother and their mother when she was attacked with a sickle.
"After beheading his sister, the boy brought her head outside so that neighbours could see it", India Today reported. It is suspected that the boy and his mother took a selfie with the victim's head.
Later, the boy surrendered to the police. He was arrested along with his mother, a Goygaon police official said.
The suspect was sent to a juvenile remand home after his lawyer told the police that the accused is underage. However, a police official said they would challenge this claim in court as they had discovered a certificate that showed him to be an adult.
"Preliminary investigations suggest a case of honour killing as the girl married against the wish of her family with the boy whose reputation was allegedly shady", police officer Suryakant R. Mote told reporters on Monday.
Honour killings punish women for bringing “disgrace” upon their families, for instance, when a woman gets married without her family's consent.
The girl eloped with her boyfriend in June and had been living with him since then. Police said that she hadn't contacted her family much after the marriage, but her mother visited her a week before the murder. According to law enforcement, the family was aware that she was pregnant.