"Will you marry me?"

The Indian culture of marriage is different from many western countries. Its conservative, perceived as necessary, and once in a lifetime activity for many Indians. You will be wondering, what marriage has to do on a blog about serial killers? The answer to the question is, marriage and various circumstances radiate from marriages are deeply ingrained in the methods of some serial killers in India.

For an average Indian, marriage means a lot of challenges, still an unavoidable one. These challenges are multifold when a woman from a low-income family wants to get married. The dowry system, which is prevalent in most Indian states, is a nightmare of many poor and lower-middle-class families who have daughters of marriageable age. The dowry system in India refers to the durable goods, cash, and real or movable property that the bride's family gives to the bridegroom, his parents, or his relatives as a condition of the marriage. There are a handful of serial killers who appeared as if 'god-sent' when they took avatars as eligible bachelors who would just marry for 'love' against the dominant culture.

A man once expressed his immense love to a young woman and told her that he would do anything to marry her. She could only say 'yes' looking at the bright and eligible bachelor he was. The relationship grew stronger, and when she saw how honest and intense his love for her, she trusted him more than her family. They occasionally met in private places and had sex. The man wanted to take the relationship to the next level. So he invited her to meet his mother. The young woman sneaked out of her house looking her best wearing all ornaments she had to impress the mother of her 'soon-to-be husband'. The man took her to a secluded place and strangulated her with the dupatta (Shawl worn by India woman with salwar) she was wearing. He hanged her body on a tree after taking all the valuables, including her gold ornaments. The man was Mahanand Naik who has killed 18 women in Goa, using similar modus operandi, between 1994 and 2007. When he was arrested, he was called "the Dupatta Killer" by the media and police.

The "Cyanide Mohan" from Karnataka targeted Hindu women of marriageable age. He worked on each victim for months before poisoning them with cyanide. Mohan's method was to build a relationship and convince them that he wanted to marry them. For many women, Mohan just appeared like that special guy they were waiting to meet their whole lives. At the end of most of his love stories, Mohan took his future wife to a hotel, kept all their ornaments safe in a wardrobe, and had sex with them. Later he took her to a bus station where he gave her a cyanide capsule disguised as anti-pregnancy pills. He warned her to consume it inside the washroom because of some symptoms which may appear after consumption. When the woman dies in the washroom, Mohan vacates the rooms with all the valuables. By the time he was arrested, Cyanide Mohan had killed at least twenty women in similar methods.

A 2006 case from Orissa points towards the vast differences and expectations on marriage existing in a multi-cultural Indian society. Bhagirathi Giri from Orissa lured tribal women with the promise of marrying them. Shortly after the marriage ritual, he had killed them. He is believed to have killed around 14 women in this manner.

Analyzing multiple murders through the cultural milieu of the society where it takes place is essential for comprehending its complexity. General theories, postulated elsewhere, impervious to the uniqueness of civilization fail when they try to explain violent phenomena such as serial killings in the local context. The context is the essence. Without it, no theory can survive.

The article is written by S. A. Deepak, Ph.D. He is an Assistant Professor of Criminology at D.G. Vaishnav College. You can read his books on serial Killers in India at the below link.

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