Bangalore: Hours after authorities stopped the engagement ceremony of a minor girl in Karnataka’s Madikeri, she was allegedly beheaded by the man she was to get married to.
According to sources, Meena (16) cleared her Class 10 board exam on Thursday and was getting engaged to 32-year-old Prakash at Surlabbi village in Madikere when the Child Welfare Department officials reached the venue and asked the families to stop the ceremony as the girl was underage. Someone had informed them about the marriage.
The officials tried to counsel their parents that it could attract a case under the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) and Child Marriage Acts. The families agreed to cancel the ceremony and postpone the marriage till Meena turned 18.
But the matter did not end there. Hours later, an enraged Prakash came to the girl’s house and attacked her parents. He kicked her father and assaulted her mother with a sharp object and dragged the girl out of the house for about 100 metres and allegedly beheaded her, NDTV reported.
Prakash is on the run. “All efforts are being made to arrest the accused,” police told media.
A case has been registered against Prakash under Sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code and POCSO Act.
Meena was the only student of her government school to have cleared the SSLC exam, Times of India reported.
Her parents have been admitted to a hospital.
