Honour killing in Punjab village near the Indo-Pak border

In yet another instance of so-called honour killing, a newly married couple was shot dead today by unidentified assailants in full public view at Patti village, 65km from here.

Senior superintendent of police (Tarn Taran) Sukhdev Singh Brar said five assailants killed the couple outside the government senior secondary school at Patti.

The assailants opened fire as soon as Prabhjot Kaur (19), accompanied by her 40-year-old husband Pardeep Singh, emerged from the school where Prabhjot was appearing for the Std XII exams.

The killing took place though two gunmen were escorting the couple on the orders of the Punjab and Haryana high court.

SSP Brar said the five assailants overpowered the two gunmen and then shot the couple dead with automatic pistols from point-blank range before escaping.

The officer said Pardeep was already married and had a 12-year-old child while Prabhjot was the daughter of his sister-in-law.

The marriage took place without the consent of the couple's parents, he said.

Nobody in the family had an inkling of the relations between Pardeep and Prabhjot. Things came to light when they got married in court recently and approached the high court for protection.

Prabhjot's husband chose the examination centre for his wife in a remote area of Patti village owing to the threat perception from her family, the SSP said.

Brar said the killers had not been identified yet. The corpses of the couple were sent for autopsy before being handed over to their relatives.