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| - Fact Check: Honour-killing of DJ in Hyderabad over inter-caste marriage given a communal spin
The deceased Harish, 28, a DJ sound system operator, was in love with Manisha. On March 1, 2023 night, Manisha's elder brother and his aides brutally stabbed Harish to death.
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India Today Fact Check
The deceased Devarakonda Harish and the girl Manisha, both belong to the Hindu community.
The Cyberabad police arrested ten accused in the alleged honour killing of 28-year-old DJ operator Devarakonda Harish Kumar on March 5.
Harish was stabbed to death on March 1, allegedly by his brother-in-law and his accomplices for marrying against the latter’s family wishes.
Meanwhile, a cryptic post is being circulated on social media, giving communal hues to the brutal honour killing.
Some social media users claimed that Harish married a Muslim girl and was allegedly killed by her family members and some Muslim fanatics.
While sharing an image of the youth, users wrote, "This is Harish from Telangana, who was stabbed to death by Muslim fanatics. Harish loved and married a Muslim girl. After this, the family members of Harish's Muslim wife stabbed Harish to death with knives. Do they want a Hindu daughter-in-law, not a Hindu son-in-law? #JusticeForHarish."
Others also echoed similar communal claims on social media. The archived versions of such posts can be seen here, here and here.
AFWA's investigation found the claims to be false. The deceased Devarakonda Harish and the girl both belong to the Hindu community and there is no communal angle to it.
AFWA Probe
A keyword search on the internet led us to various news reports citing this as a suspected honour-killing case. On March 4, 2023, The News Minute cited Harish as a Dalit man and belonging to the ‘Mala’ community, while Manisha belonging to ‘Valmiki Mehtar’.
The Indian Express stated that the deceased was a Dalit, while the girl belonged to a backward community. On February 22, Harish eloped with Manisha, 25, to get married. Later, when her brother learned about their whereabouts, he hacked Harish to death.
News reports by The Times of India, and The Siasat Daily labelled it as a case of ‘honour-killing’. The names of the accused are as follows– B. Deendayal (main accused), Trimukhe Naresh, Potlacheruvu Venkatesh Goud, Kalibhavaniwale Rohith Singh, Band Venkat, Parwary Aniketh, Koyalkar Manish, Bure Sainath, Mathangi Rajendra Kumar, Gouti Navanitha.
These news reports clearly suggest that Harish, Manisha, the main accused Deendayal and all his associates belong to the Hindu community.
To get to the bottom of the matter, AFWA reached out to the SHO of Petbasheerabad Police Station Gouri Prashanth. He divulged that both Harish and Manisha belong to the backward-class Hindu communities.
Speaking to AFWA, Harish’s sister Pravallika also confirmed that Harish belongs to a Scheduled Caste community, while his wife Manisha is from the Scheduled Tribe.
We were not able to independently ascertain the caste of the girl. It is, however, clear that a case of honour killing was falsely shared with a communal angle to mislead people.
(Inputs Sanjeeva Rao, India Today, Telangana)
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