The chilling murder cases of Raja Raghuvanshi (Meghalaya honeymoon murder case) and Saurabh Rajput (Meerut drum murder case) became a topic of household discussions, with many expressing fear and shock over the fateful incidents.
These cases are not exceptional. In Haryana’s Bhiwani, Ravina, a YouTuber from Rewari, allegedly killed her husband Praveen with the help of her lover, Suresh.
In Bihar’s Aurangabad, a woman reportedly plotted her husband’s murder only 45 days after their wedding to keep her “15-year affair with an uncle alive”.
Meanwhile, a youth was killed by his childhood friend over a triangular love affair in Odisha’s Bolangir district. In another incident from Hyderabad, a minor girl and her boyfriend were suspected to be responsible for the murder of her mother (38), who had objected to their relationship.
In a new case that emerged in Nagpur this week, a 30-year-old woman allegedly killed her paralysed husband with the help of her lover. Accused “Disha held her husband’s hands as Tyrewala choked him with a pillow,” police told news agency PTI.
These are just a few cases among many wherein a love affair ends in a murder.
How common is killing in love?
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report revealed that Love affairs were the third-biggest triggers of murders that took place in India in 2022.
As many as 1,401 murder cases with “love affairs” as the motive and 1,420 murders motivated by “illicit relationship” – total 2,821 cases – were reported across India, according to data released in 2022.
This accounted for nearly 8 per cent of total murder cases reported across the country in that year.
These cases may include incidents of a marriage gone wrong, a romantic rivalry, or suspicion of a love affair, among other emotions related to romance.
A total of 102 cases were reported in 19 metropolitan cities in 2022. “‘Disputes’ (846 cases) was the motive of murder in the highest number of cases, followed by ‘Personal Vendetta or Enmity’ (358 cases) and ‘Love Affairs’ (102 cases),” the NCRB report stated.
The highest number of such murder cases was reported in Uttar Pradesh (253), followed by Bihar with 173 cases in 2022.
In 2020, as many as 3,031 of 29,193 recorded murders were motivated by love affairs and illicit relationships (around 10 percent).
This number increased to 3,125 in 2021. Of the total 29,272 murders in 2021, “love affairs” had accounted for 1,566 cases, and 1559 cases had “illicit relationships” as motive behind them.
Notably, the share of love-related killings in India’s overall murder data was recorded at seven-eight percent during 2010-2014. It, however, had increased to 10-11 per cent between 2016-2020, when the total number of murders reported a declining trend.