The incident of a 25-year-old man beaten to death by the family members of his girlfriend in Sriganganagar two days ago shocked many, but the murders over love affairs and illicit relationships seem to be a regular occurrence in the state. They were the motive behind as many as 50 of the total murder cases reported in Rajasthan in 2014, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) figures released recently.

The latest case was related to 27-year-old woman Poonam’s murder in Jalore last month.

Everybody was surprised when the police arrested Chunni Devi – the mother of Poonam’s paramour – for the crime. Five-month pregnant Poonam was living with the family of her paramour Devendra Jangu as his widow. In May, her husband Prakash Bishnoi was arrested for murdering Devendra. Prakash and his armed men had abducted Poonam and Devendra from their rented house in New Bhupalpura area in Jalore.

While 41 people were killed over love affairs, nine were murdered over illicit relationships. The other prominent motives behind murders are personal vendetta, enmity and property disputes. As many as 89 murder cases were reported in the state over personal enmity. Property dispute was the motive behind 65 murder cases.

One of the most shocking cases of murders over property dispute and communal animosity was reported in Nagaur’s Dangawas area in May this year. Hundreds of Dalits from Nagaur district’s Dangawas and surrounding villages had fled for their lives after the region’s dominant upper caste, the Jats, allegedly mowed down Dalits under tractors, and grievously wounded many others following the flaring up of a decades’ old land dispute. The Jat violence followed firing by Dalits in which one dominant caste member was killed. Nearly six people were killed and over a dozen were injured in the violence.

A total of 1,637 murder cases took place in Rajasthan in 2014, claiming lives of 1,688 people.

“It’s true that most of the murder cases in Rajasthan are related to property disputes and personal enmity. The good thing is that not many cases occurred as organized crimes. Most of the murders were spur-of-the moment cases,” said a police officer.

The officer said that love affairs are still considered a taboo in rural and many urban areas in the state. “The society is yet to accept a relationship between two adults. In many cases, the family members protest because the couple are from same gotra or from different castes. In some cases, violence is caused where the love affairs are triangular. These are common phenomena across the country,” the officer added.