Killing of Shailendra Prasad

The 2008 Murshidabad murder was the killing of Shailendra Prasad, a Hindu labourer from Bihar, on 14 July 2008 in Murshidabad district, West Bengal, India. He was put to death on the orders of a shalishi court — an informal village arbitration council — after villagers concluded that he had married Munira Bibi, a Muslim woman from West Bengal. Munira Bibi, described as the widow of the victim, later regretted the visit to her parental home during which her husband was killed.

Shailendra Prasad had worked as a labourer in Mumbai, where Munira was employed as a maid servant. The couple married in 2001. Munira came from an orthodox village, where a shalishi court had earlier fined her father two hundred rupees for having sent his daughter to work in Mumbai.

In July 2008, the couple travelled to Lakshmanpur with their ten-month-old son. As on an earlier visit, Shailendra assumed the identity of 'Munna Sheikh' to avoid the hostility of the orthodox villagers. Munira's father grew suspicious after noticing that his son-in-law did not offer Friday prayers and did not respond spontaneously to greetings. On 14 July, after overhearing him during a religious ritual, he reported his suspicions to the village elders. A shalishi court was convened that evening on the grounds of the village primary school. Shailendra was forcibly disrobed to verify his religion and was then severely beaten. Twenty-two political and religious leaders of the court, along with the victim's father-in-law, declared him guilty of marrying a Muslim woman and imposed a death sentence. Bound and gagged, he was taken to a nearby jute field, where four men killed him.

Because Shailendra went missing on the night of 14 July, Munira initially believed he had returned to Mumbai; her father concealed the events from her mother and brother. On 17 July, police found the body of an unidentified man inside a gunny bag in the jute fields. On 27 July, after learning of her husband's death from other villagers, Munira travelled with her mother and brother to the Berhampore police station to lodge a complaint. Police raided the village on 28 July and arrested three people who had presided over the shalishi, while other participants and the victim's father-in-law fled. On 1 August, a police force led by additional Superintendent of Police Debashis Bej detained 26 villagers for interrogation. Home Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakrabarti said the strictest possible action would be taken against those responsible.

Contemporaneous coverage of the case was published by The Telegraph of Kolkata and by Outlook.