Girl, 13, 'India's youngest honour killing victim' after being set on fire for talking to boy

A 13-year-old girl is believed to be one of the youngest victims of honour killings in India after her father allegedly killed her then burnt her body after she spoke to a boy.

The murder was said to have taken place in Chintapalli village, around 130km south east of Hyderabad, on 15 September.

It is alleged that the teenager, named as Palleti Radhika, had her head beaten her head against a wall before she was strangled and her body set on fire.

It was reported that police believe the father even attempted to pass the death off as a suicide, according to police in the Nalgonda district, in southern India.

It was reported that the father, an agricultural labourer, launched the savage attack after accusing her of giving the family a bad name after being seen talking to a boy outside her school on several occasions.

Police believe that the girl described the discussion with the boy as "casual talk" before the attack started.

The Hindustan Times reported that the girl's parents Narsimha and Lingamma have now been arrested after police initially registering the case as a suicide.

The newspaper reported that Nampally police inspector Bala Gangi Reddy said the parents admitted during interrogation that they "killed her out of anger that her deed would spoil their reputation in the village" They got nervous after realising that their daughter was no more and feared that they would be arrested," he said.

"So, they doused her body with kerosene and burnt it to show it as a suicide. They later lodged a complaint with the police that the girl had committed suicide out of depression".

The Indian Express reported that the father confessed that he strangled her to death.

The term 'honour killing' refers to the murder of a person by one of their family members motivated by a belief that the victim had brought "shame" to the family, often by perceived relationships outside of the family.