A murder which makes our insides quail has been instantly repurposed, including by some public servants, to rant about inter faith relationships or live-in relationships or ‘modern girls’ or even girls’ education, yaniki, beti bachao, beti mat padhao. Do you sense a strange similarity? The killer’s seemingly pathological, desensitised handling of the victim’s body finds a chilling parallel in the desensitised and opportunistic use by these conservative voices to that same body. They treat it merely as fodder for their propaganda, showing neither human shock, nor sadness. 

News outlets which otherwise struggle with factuality, have lost little time in excavating historical murders featuring live-in couples and relationship troubles. Most notably similar is the 1995 tandoor murder case in which Sushil Sharma shot his partner Naina Sahni and then tried to dispose off her body by burning it in a tandoor. Here is an interesting fact. In one of many interviews he gave on his release in 2018, Sushil Sharma said he had often thought about ending his life while imprisoned. He was saved by a fellow inmate—“another Brahmin arrested on charges of dowry death” as he describes him—who told him to read the scriptures to find purpose and stability. One of the operative phrases in this statement being: “arrested on charges of dowry death”.