India family sentenced to death for honour killing

NEW DELHI // Five members of a family in India were sentenced to death yesterday for the torture and murder of a young couple in a so-called "honour killing" two years ago.

The parents, uncle, aunt and brother of Asha, a 19-year-old girl killed along with her boyfriend, Yogesh, in 2010 were all sentenced to be hanged at a court in Delhi.

Yogesh, a taxi driver, wanted to marry Asha, the daughter of a vegetable trader, but the woman's family was against the relationship because the boy belonged to a lower caste.

India has seen an upsurge in such killings, which often involve young couples who marry outside their caste or against their relatives' wishes, and are murdered to protect what is seen as the family's reputation.

Autopsy reports revealed that the couple had been tied, beaten with metal pipes and electrocuted, local media reports said.

"Medical examination had revealed that the two had died due to the thermoelectric shock from repeated electrocution," said the Indian Express newspaper.

A public prosecutor, PK Verma, said: "All the five persons were handed the death penalty because it was proved beyond doubt that they tortured and killed the young boy and girl just because they were in love and wanted to marry. The murders were brutal and deliberate."

The convicted family members can appeal against the decision in a higher court.

* Agence France-Presse