Woman insists on marrying the man of her choice, shot dead by father, cousin in front of police in Gwalior

Days before wedding, victim posted video accusing family of beating her up for refusing to marry the man they chose; when police visited to mediate, she was shot in front of them; father arrested, cousin escaped

A 20-year-old woman was shot dead by her father in front of police personnel and her family members in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior for wanting to marry a man of her choice instead of the one chosen by her family, police said on Wednesday. 

Tanu Gurjar was scheduled to get married this Saturday (January 18), but was shot on Tuesday night (January 14) by her father Mahesh Gurjar, 47, and her cousin Rahul Gurjar, 25 using country-made pistols. Police personnel were present at the scene, barely five to seven feet away from the victim, according to the Gwalior City Superintendent of Police (SP), Nagendra Singh Sikarwar.

While Mr. Mahesh Gurjar, who runs a dhaba, was arrested on the spot, Mr. Rahul Gurjar managed to escape after threatening others on the scene with the gun. “Our teams have been working to nab him,” Mr. Sikarwar said.

The incident took place in Gwalior’s Adarsh Nagar Jaunpura area, which lies within the jurisdiction of Gola Ka Mandir police station.

Refuses parents’ choice

Ms. Gurjar had been in a relationship with a man from Uttar Pradesh’s Agra for about five years and wanted to marry him, the SP said. Her parents, however, had arranged for her to marry a man from Bhind.

“The girl refused to marry the man of her family’s choice while the parents were firm on their decision as the man they had chosen was in the Indian Air Force and the other man did not have a stable job. The woman’s father also refused to call off the wedding given the dates were really close,” he said. 

The officer said that Ms. Gurjar had shared a video on social media accusing her family of beating her up for refusing to marry the man of their choice. 

“In the video, she had also said that her family would be responsible if anything happened to her,” he said, adding that the local police had reached her house after the video came to their notice. 

Sudden shots

“The wedding preparations were on at their house and relatives were also there so nobody could imagine that something like this could happen. The officers were trying to make the woman’s parents understand while they were talking to their daughter. All of a sudden, the father took out the gun and shot her, after which her cousin also fired two or three shots at her,” Mr. Sikarwar said. 

A case has been filed in the matter. A postmortem was also conducted, the officer said, adding that the police will now investigate the matter further and contact the victim’s friend in Agra.

Published - January 15, 2025 07:24 pm IST