Axe attack at Karnataka mass wedding: Pregnant woman targeted by brother for inter-caste marriage in Koppal

Two months after Karnataka reported honour killing of a pregnant woman, another pregnant woman was attacked by her brother armed with an axe in public view in Koppal district on Wednesday for marrying a man from a different community.
The incident was reported at Handrala during a mass wedding event where the victim’s co-brother was getting married.
Koppal Superintendent of Police Ram L Arasiddi said that they have arrested the accused Manjunath, while the victim, Meenakshi, had been shifted to a government hospital, and her condition is stable.
The police said that Meenakshi is four months pregnant and was living in Bengaluru with her husband, Uday Kumar, who belonged to the Valmiki community, classified as a Scheduled Tribe (ST) community.
Meenakshi, who belonged to the Kuruba community, married Kumar more than a year ago against the wishes of her relatives. Since then, Meenakshi’s family had not been keeping in touch with her, the police said.
According to the police, Manjunath, armed with an axe, barged into the mass wedding venue at Handrala village, where his sister was attending Uday Kumar’s brother’s wedding, and attacked Meenakshi. The local people who were present managed to counter Manjunath and rescued Meenakshi from further assault.
A family member told the media that the local police were alerted about the couple’s arrival in the village seeking protection. “If Manjunath steps out of jail, he will surely kill her. Meenakshi and Uday face a life threat in the future, and the police need to provide protection,” the relative said.
Recently, the State Government has passed the Karnataka Freedom of Choice in Marriage and Prevention and Prohibition of Crimes in the name of honour and tradition (Eva Nammava Eva Nammava) Bill, 2026, to prevent attacks on inter-caste couples.

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In December last year, 20-year-old Manya Patil, a pregnant woman from the Lingayat community, was allegedly killed by her relatives in Hubballi taluk on December 21 for marrying a Dalit youth seven months ago. Her father and two relatives allegedly attacked her when she was working in a field at Inam Veerapur village in Dharwad district.