In a purported case of honor killing, police in Shivamogga district have arrested a 45-year-old farmer on Tuesday after he allegedly attempted to murder his elder daughter on Sunday.
But incidentally his younger daughter (16) was severely injured as he mistook her for her 19-year- old elder sister.
According to The Times of India, the man had hit the younger daughter with a crowbar on Sunday night after he after missing his intended target.
The newspaper reports that the father confessed, "I wanted to kill my daughter to save the honor of our family," during police interrogation.
The minor is currently admitted in a Bangalore private hospital in a critical condition after she was initially admitted in a local hospital. The incident occurred when two of his daughters were asleep alongside each other in their Chandanakare village house on Sunday night.
The farmer was believed to unhappy with her elder daughter as she expressed her wish to marry a cab driver belonging to a different caste residing in the same village. The duo was due to get married on Wednesday in the traditional fashion despite the farmer expressing his reservations.
The farmer was initially opposed to the marriage but later agreed only for a registered marriage after village elders and family members intervened.
In September last year, Ramanagar police of South Karnataka had arrested a couple for allegedly killing their 17-year-old daughter for similar reasons.
An Al-Jazeera report in 2003, claimed that according to UN data one out of every five cases of honor killings in the whole world was reported from India.