A man who attempted to get his daughter remarried ended up having his nose and ears cut off by a gang of six in revenge.
Sukhram Vishnoi, from western India's Rajasthan state, was heading home on Tuesday night when the group forcefully entered his home and attacked him, state police have alleged.
Mr Vishnoi's daughter recently separated from her husband after walking out of the marital home six years ago.
The father got his daughter remarried and officials suspect the perpetrators of the attack were the daughter’s former in-laws who were furious with her decision to remarry.
Mr Vishnoi was rushed to a hospital in Jodhpur and is in critical condition with a leg fracture.
According to the man’s family, the attackers reportedly took away his nose and ears with them.
“Vishnoi’s daughter is currently living with another man. Vishnoi has said that this miffed the estranged husband and his family, which led to the attack,” a police officer told The Indian Express.
The woman previously filed a case against her in-laws and the police hold a file for dowry harassment, assistant sub-inspector Achalaram from the Sedwa police station said.
Mr Achalaram added that Mr Bishnoi has alleged that he was attacked by his daughter’s estranged husband and relatives.
Earlier in August, another man had his nose cut for calling off his daughter’s engagement with one of the accused.
Kamal Singh Bhati, 55, was assaulted when he cancelled the engagement fearing for his daughter’s safety.
A coalition of activists and organisations under the Dalit Human Rights Defenders Network (DHDRN) recently proposed a draft Bill to criminalise honour killings — whereby family members or their spouses are killed for “committing the crime of” intercaste or interfaith marriage to “preserve community honour."
In a statement in the Indian Parliament last year, the Minister of State for Home Affairs declared that between 2017 and 2019, the country saw 145 cases of honour killing registered across the country.
In May this year, a Dalit man in Hyderabad, southern India was beaten to death by his wife’s brothers.
In 2019, Rajasthan became the first Indian state to introduce a law against honour killing and gives the death penalty to those found guilty of Honor Killing.
