Love is among the most natural and beautiful emotions experienced by human beings. Across societies, countless couples fall in love and choose marriage based on mutual affection. Yet, for many, this simple human choice collides with rigid social barriers—caste, religion, wealth, and hollow notions of family prestige.
Even today, there are parents who place their own “honour” above the happiness and safety of their children. Such rigid attitudes often culminate in dowry harassment, emotional abuse, or even suicide. More disturbing still is the phenomenon of honour killings—a brutal crime in which parents or relatives mercilessly murder their own children for daring to choose their life partner.
These crimes stem from a deeply cruel belief system: that social reputation matters more than a child’s life. The idea that public opinion must be preserved at any cost—even if it means killing one’s own flesh and blood—continues to plague parts of our society.
A harrowing incident from Gujarat in 2025 stands as a stark reminder of how deeply entrenched this mindset remains.
Chandrika, an intelligent and ambitious young woman, dreamt of becoming a doctor. She had worked hard toward that goal and achieved an impressive result in the NEET examination announced on June 14, 2025. Her future appeared bright. But the love that blossomed quietly in her heart would soon lead to her untimely death—at the hands of the very man meant to protect her.
On June 25, 2025, in the small village of Dantiya in Gujarat, Sandhyabhai Patel cremated the body of his 18-year-old daughter. He told neighbours and relatives that Chandrika had died suddenly of a heart attack. In an era where reports of sudden cardiac deaths among young people are increasingly common, no immediate suspicion was raised.
What was burned that day, however, was not just a young woman’s body—but the evidence of a grave crime.
Chandrika had recently met Harish, a young man, after he asked her for a lift at a bus stand in Palanpur. What began as a brief interaction gradually developed into a deep emotional bond. Harish had been honest with her, telling her that he was legally married but living separately from his wife. His candour only strengthened Chandrika’s feelings for him.
Her father, however, was a rigid and conservative man. He believed his daughter had no right to choose her own partner and must marry only the man selected by him. Defying her wishes, he decided to arrange her marriage to a relative from within the extended family.
What followed was a tragedy rooted not in passion, but in pride—a reminder that, despite social progress and legal safeguards, honour killings remain a brutal reality. Chandrika’s story is not just about one life lost, but about a society still struggling to value individual freedom, dignity, and love over archaic notions of honour.
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