Teen arrested for beheading sister while mother allegedly holding victim’s legs

New Delhi (CNN) – A teenager was arrested in western India for beheading his 19-year-old sister while her mother allegedly held the girl’s legs, according to police.

The victim, who married against her parents’ wishes, was two months pregnant, police told CNN on Tuesday, citing her husband.

The incident occurred this Sunday in Vaijapur, Maharashtra, and neither the victim nor the accused have been publicly named by the police.

“The girl (19) went against the wishes of her parents and married five months ago. They had a judicial marriage and since then she had not been in contact with her family and was living with her husband,” Kailash Prajapati told CNN , a high ranking policeman in Vaijapur, Maharashtra.

The victim’s mother and brother arrived at her home on Sunday and the victim invited them in for tea, Prajapati said.

“It was then that the brother took a scythe and beat it four times and beheaded it. Then they raised the head and left it outside the house in the yard and left the body inside,” Prajapati said.

“The mother was holding his legs during the incident and was equally complicit,” he added.

The woman’s husband, who was home because he was feeling too ill to work, was asleep in the house at the time of the incident and woke up when he heard the noise, police said.

“The accused also attacked him, but he was able to escape,” Prajapati said.

Police said the couple later visited a police station and confessed to the murder. Police launched an investigation after they went to the house and discovered the body and head.

“The child is a minor according to his birth certificate and has been sent to a home for minors and the mother is in custody.”

The teenager and his mother have yet to be officially charged, but Prajapati said the police report listed the murder as their charge, pending an investigation.

Police are awaiting an autopsy to confirm whether the victim was pregnant.

The facts of the prosecution fit the pattern of an honor killing.

So-called honor killings are usually the murder of a woman or a girl by male family members who justify their actions on the grounds that the victim has dishonored the family.

India reported 23 of the so-called “honor killings” in 2020, according to statistics from the country’s National Office for Criminal Records.