Mandya, : The last rites of Shilpa, who was allegedly burnt to death by the relatives of her husband at Kannahalli in Malavalli taluk of the district, were performed in the town on Friday.
The last rites were performed by the woman’s father Murugesh, with the assistance of the district administration and several organisations. Tahsildar Mamata was present on behalf of the district administration.
The police have arrested Nagamma, Shilpa’s mother-in-law, in connection with the incident. She has been remanded in judicial custody after questioning.
Nagamma had been taken into custody on Thursday, the day of the incident. Pramila, the paternal aunt of the woman’s husband Abhijit, had also been arrested on Thursday.
The police have formed a team to nab Abhijit’s father Billaiah and uncle Puttaswamy.
The police had taken Abhijit into custody on Thursday for interrogation.
They have let him off since his role was not evident in the incident.
Abhijit may be summoned for questioning whenever necessary, Superintendent of Police Bhushan Borase told Deccan Herald.
Need to sensitise people: George
Home Minister K J George told Deccan Herald that the government had given instructions to the Mandya SP to take swift action in the case pertaining to Shilpa’s death.
“The local SP has taken the initiative. They have also made immediate arrests. But at the policy level, it involves not only the Home department, but also other departments which handle women’s welfare,” he said.
The social welfare and the women and child welfare departments need to sensitise people to the issues regarding inter-caste marriages. George said that his department had been hosting seminars and other such events in this connection.
Additional Chief Secretary (Home) S K Pattanayak said the department would not take any hasty decision to formulate policy in such matters.
“We will seek legal opinion with regard to such heinous crimes. But they will all be independent of this particular case. We cannot take knee-jerk actions,” he said.
