A 16-year-old boy in India was brutally killed after his brother eloped with the suspect’s sister against the family’s wishes. The attack was reportedly sparked by the victim’s “teasing” about their marriage.

The horrific murder took place in the town of Mansa, in the northern Punjab State. The victim, Jaspreet Singh, was tied to a pillar in an abandoned rice mill, doused with gasoline and set ablaze, police said on Sunday.

Three people were arrested in connection to the crime. According to the station house officer of the Mansa city police Sukhjeet Singh, the teenager’s older brother has been involved with the sister of one of the suspects. The couple eloped to a different town around two years ago, got married and had a child.

Sources told the Indian Express that the girl’s family disapproved of the marriage and did not allow them to return to their hometown. They also said that the “intermittent teasing” about their romance by the victim could have led to the attack.

A sixteen-year-old boy was tied to a pillar at an abandoned rice sheller in Mansa and burnt alive.https://t.co/9Fp2DybiVo — Yahoo India (@YahooIndia) November 25, 2019

Police cited the claims of the suspect’s relatives that the boy “would off and on tease him and his family about this marriage” and would say that the couple will return and start living with them soon.

The state authorities believe the crime was not a case of caste-related violence, since both the victim and the suspects belong to the Dalit ethnic community, whose members have been historically discriminated against in India.

“No doubt this incident is brutal,” the Punjab State Scheduled Castes Commission’s head Tejinder Kaur said. “It is a cold-blooded murder. The culprits must be punished as per law.”

Also on rt.com Rapist-murderer of children to hang in rare case after India’s Supreme Court dismisses appeal

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!