The murder of an interfaith couple and the arrest of the woman's brothers by the police for the alleged crime has shocked a small village in India's northern Uttar Pradesh state where residents have lived in harmony for years.

The bodies of 19-year-old Kajal, a Hindu, and 27-year-old Mohammad Arman, a Muslim, were found buried near a riverbank on the outskirts of Umri village on 21 January.

Police said they were beaten to death with a spade two days earlier, allegedly by Kajal's three brothers, who have been arrested. They are in custody and have not commented on the killings.

The murders have left an uneasy quiet hanging over Umri, 182km (113 miles) from India's capital Delhi. The village is home to about 400 families – from both Hindu and Muslim communities – and several resident told the BBC that they have shared a warm relationship without any history of religious disputes.

Deputy inspector general of state police Muniraj G told the BBC that police believe it to be a case of "honour killing" – murder by relatives or community members to punish women for falling in love or marrying outside of their caste or religion.

India's National Crime Records Bureau began recording honour killings in 2014, when it listed 18 cases nationwide. Its latest annual report recorded 38 such cases in 2023.

Activists, however, say the numbers are significantly higher – in hundreds every year - as many cases are recorded simply as homicide.

Umri is in Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad district, which is known for its metal craft industries. The region is largely rural, where strong social hierarchies continue to influence everyday life. Kajal's brothers worked as masons in Moradabad town.

Kajal and Arman's relationship "was the first case [of an interfaith relationship]" in their village, says resident Mahipal Saini.

Residents of Umri who spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity said Kajal and Arman were neighbours who lived hardly 200m from each other. They described them as introverts who did not have many friends.

It's not clear how they met and how long they had been a couple, but police say that "the two were close".

They say the murders allegedly took place in Kajal's house on the intervening night of 18 and 19 January, when her brothers caught Arman visiting her. The brothers - Rajaram, Satish and Rinku Saini - are in jail and have not said anything in their defence so far.

Their father, Ganpat Saini, told the BBC that he and his wife were not at home at the time of the murders. He said they were sleeping in a shed on the outskirts of the village where they usually spend nights to guard their livestock. He added that he was grieving his daughter.

Arman's elder brother Farman Ali said that his brother left home after dinner on 18 January, saying he would be back with some medicines for their parents. When he hadn't returned by the next morning and his phone was switched off, his family started panicking and went to the police. This led to a search operation in the village.

Police allege that Kajal's brothers attempted to mislead them by lodging a missing complaint about her on 20 January, accusing Arman of abducting her.

They say they questioned both the families and found discrepancies in the statements of Kajal's brothers.

Further investigation led them to the spot where the bodies were buried, police said.

Ganpat Saini says that when he and his wife returned home on the morning of 19 January, they could not find Kajal at home. He says he learnt about the murder only after the bodies were found.

He, however, did not answer when asked whether he or anyone in his family knew that Kajal and Arman were in a relationship.

Arman's family say they were unaware of his relationship with Kajal.

"He never told us anything," brother Farman Ali says. "After we couldn't find him for a whole day, some of his friends told us that he had been seeing Kajal for about two months."

Villagers say they usually resolve disputes with help from elected village council leaders. "If the family [of Kajal] had acted more reasonably, the elders in the village could have helped resolve it," says villager Mahipal Saini.

The killings, some say, have forced an uneasy reflection.

"We never imagined something like this could happen here," says Arif Ali, another Umri resident. "It's not that men and women in the village have suddenly started feeling unsafe. But there is a silence that hangs over us."

The Umri murders join the long list of suspected "honour killing" cases reported from across India over decades.

More than 93% marriages in India are "arranged" by families within their own caste and faith and couples who deviate from the tradition are routinely forced to seek protection from police or courts.

Indian law regards "honour killings" as murder and courts have repeatedly affirmed that an adult's choice of partner by consent is constitutionally protected. In 2018, the country's top court mandated state governments to set up safe houses in every district to protect inter-faith and inter-caste couples from harassment.

Yet cases of violence continue to be reported from across states.

Research shows most Indians oppose inter-faith marriages, and controversial laws against religious conversion implemented in several states often keep such couples on edge.

Filmmaker Nakul Singh Sawhney, who made a documentary on the subject in 2012, says the official data on honour killing is far from adequate.

"Most cases don't make it to the official data unless the motive is clearly mentioned at the first stage of the police reports. And in many cases the honour killing angle emerges much later during investigation," says Sawhney.

Human rights activist Kavita Srivastava says the failure to recognise the scale of the so-called honour crimes contributes to official indifference. "When the problem is not seen, it is not acted upon," she says.

As women increasingly assert their right to choose their partners, Srivastava adds, they often encounter resistance from what she describes as "a deeply regressive social system".

Court orders, she says, alone cannot prevent "honour crimes" unless broader social attitudes are confronted. (BBC, excluding headline)

•PHOTO: The bodies of Kajal (left) and Arman (right) were found buried near a riverbank on the outskirts of Umri village. Photos courtesy of BBC.

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