Parents' support key to stop violence in live-in relationships: NCW chief

Parents should be supportive of their children in live-in relationships so that they do not hesitate to share their thoughts and feelings, NCW Chairperson Rekha Sharma said on Friday, amid the recent horrific murders of women by their live-in partners in the country.

Pointing out the recent cases of brutal murders by partners in live-in relationships, National Commission for Women (NCW) chief said that it was seen in these cases that parents were not supportive of their children being in a live-in relationship.

"In Nikky Yadav's case, the man's parents were putting pressure on him to get married. The parents must support their child's choice and respect it. Even in Shraddha's case, the family was not in touch with her," Sharma told PTI.

She said parents must accept live-in relationships of their children.

"Parents should be supportive of their children being in live-in relationships. We should also ensure we treat our children with respect and refrain from treating them as possessions. Such behaviour may cause the children to hesitate to share their thoughts and feelings. It is important to treat our children, especially when they come of age, as our friends, allowing them to confide in us," She said.

In a recent incident, a 24-year-old man allegedly strangled his live-in partner with a mobile phone cable on February 10, and hid her body in a refrigerator in his dhaba on the outskirts of Mitraon village in southwest Delhi.

According to police, the accused, Sahil Gehlot, married a woman the same day he killed his girlfriend, Nikki Yadav.

In another recent case, Shraddha was allegedly strangled, chopped into several pieces, and disposed of at different locations of a forest area in south Delhi for several months by her live-in partner Aaftab Amin Poonawala.