A 14-year-old boy, belonging to a Scheduled Tribe of Karnataka, was killed by the family of a Muslim girl he was friends with, in February. The killers chopped off the boy’s private parts and nose.

The case has been covered by the national newspapers. However, they have failed to name the religious identity of the girl’s family, introducing them only as “a different community”.

Read reports by The Times of India here, by the Deccan Chronicle here and by The Hindu here.

The boy lived in Naribol village of Jewargi taluk in Kalaburagi district of Karnataka. His name was Kolli Mahesh.

The boy’s uncle, Vishwanath, told Swarajya that on the evening of 22 February, Mahesh left home saying he was going to a temple and would be back in 15 minutes. When he did not return, the family inquired from his friends about his whereabouts.

They learnt that Mahesh had recently been warned by the mother of a classmate, who belonged to the Muslim community, against talking to her daughter. Mahesh’s father and uncle reached the classmate’s house. The girl, who is younger to Mahesh, handed them a mobile phone and went inside. Her mother turned the men away.

The family learnt that Mahesh and the girl were friends, and he had recently given her a mobile phone.

They gave a missing persons’ complaint to the Jewargi police station.

Around 5 pm on 25 February, villagers found a sack floating in Bhima river. The bag was pulled out with the help of police. It carried a decomposed body.

The uncle said that the boy’s private part and nose were chopped off. The police told the same to the media.

A case of murder was subsequently filed against the girl’s mother and her friend Mehboob under IPC sections 363 (kidnapping), 302 (murder), 201 (disappearance of evidence) and sections of the SC/ST prevention of atrocities act. They have been arrested.

The boy was a student of Class 9 at a government school, said Vishwanath. The girl studied in the same school but in a junior class.

Vishwanath said that the family has received some compensation from the state government under the SC/ST prevention of atrocities act. The family belongs to the Bedar tribe, which largely follows the Hindu religion.

The uncle said that the boy was intoxicated before the murder. He said that the boy’s father, who is a farmer, is miserable after the loss of his son and is constantly asking why the girl’s family did not approach him if they had objections to his son talking to their daughter.

Read the letter below by the family addressed to the local judge appealing him to take up the case, dates 26 February 2021 – a day after the boy’s body was found.