In a deeply distressing case of alleged honour killing in Maharashtra’s Nanded district, a 21-year-old woman “married” the body of her boyfriend just moments before his final rites. The shocking act came after the man was allegedly murdered by her own father and brothers over caste differences.
Aanchal Mamidwar stood over the lifeless body of 23-year-old Saksham Tate and applied turmeric to him, while adorning her own forehead with vermillion, a symbolic gesture sealing what she called their “immortal” union.
A Public Defiance Against Caste Violence
Eyewitness videos of the emotional ceremony quickly went viral, showing Aanchal vowing to spend the rest of her life as the Tate family’s daughter-in-law. “Our love won, even in Saksham’s death; and my father and brothers lost,” she told reporters, calling for the accused to be hanged for the “cold-blooded murder”.
Police said the couple had met through Aanchal’s brothers, but their relationship was strongly opposed by her family because Saksham belonged to a different caste. Investigators allege that once the Mamidwars discovered she intended to marry him, her brother, Himesh Mamidwar, opened fire on Saksham in the town’s old Ganj area on Thursday evening. The bullet struck his ribs before Himesh allegedly smashed his head with a tile or stone, killing him instantly.
Authorities have arrested Himesh, another brother, Sahil, and their father, Gajanan Mamidwar. Both Saksham and the primary accused were reportedly history-sheeters and had once been close friends.
The following evening, as Tate’s cremation preparations began, Aanchal arrived in anguish and insisted on a marriage ritual, a final declaration that their love was “very much alive”, despite the brutal end he met.
The case has sparked outrage online and renewed scrutiny of caste-based violence and honour killings in India, where young couples continue to pay the ultimate price for challenging deep-rooted social divisions.