On Tuesday, readers awoke to the Capital’s night of horror. A young girl, Asha, and her lover, Yogesh, were tortured to death by her family members inside her home, even as neighbours chose to shut out the victims’ screams. Those who tried to intervene were brushed off by family members claiming it was a ‘private matter’. This gruesome crime, committed in the name of ‘family honour’, raises three important questions. First,...

Umesh Kumar and his wife Satvati Devi were woken in the middle of the night by loud cries coming from the neighbouring house. "She was crying loudly. She was pleading, 'Kill me, but please don't hurt him.' She loved him and they wanted to get married," Ms Devi tells me. Two days after teenage lovers Asha and Yogesh were brutally killed, Swaroop Nagar colony on the north-western outskirts of the...

Amitabh Bachchan says that if ever asked about his caste by Census enumerators, his answer would be: Caste – Indian. That, of course, would do little more than stoke the media's bollywood feeding frenzy yet again. Shyam Maharaj is no Bachchan. Nor is his brother, Chaitanya Prabhu. But they and the followers of their fraternity will likely throw up far more complex answers — and questions — if Census enumerators...

A Dalit father of two and his upper-caste lover were allegedly stoned to death in an Andhra village in a suspected honour killing case being dubbed the state’s first. The bodies of S. Sunkari Srinivas, 32, and Swapna Reddy, 22, bearing injury marks caused by stone hits, were found on the outskirts of Krishnajiwadi village in Nizamabad district last night, police said. The attackers were alleged relatives of Swapna, who could...

After khaps, it is the Arya Samaj that has shocked couples in Haryana. A section of the sect has decided to ban marriages without consent of parents and villagers. Till now, Arya Samaj temples were a favourite of couples who eloped and solemnised marriages without the consent of their parents and the community. Now, the Haryana Arya Samaj Pratinidhi Sabha led by Acharya Baldev has decided to impose complete ban...