Seven days, seven murders: India's week of intimate partner violence

Between February 10 and February 18, 2026, at least seven women across India were murdered by men who claimed to love them. The accused are not anonymous drifters or career criminals. They are a former ISRO scientist, a chartered accountant, an MBA student, a software engineer, and a school teacher. They killed with their hands, with scissors, with knives, with electric wires. Most of their stories never reached national television.

This is a dispatch about the women who died.

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The Cases

1. Indore — February 10

Victim: An MBA student, name withheld by police.

Piyush Dhamnotiya, her boyfriend of five months, allegedly consumed alcohol, filmed an explicit act, and then strangled her in his rented room. After killing her, he locked the door and fled to Mumbai. Her decomposed body was found three days later when her family, unable to reach her, asked the landlord to open the room.

Dhamnotiya was arrested in Mumbai. Reports indicate he showed no remorse. He had leaked explicit videos of the victim after her death.

2. Bengaluru — February 18

Victim: Sandhya Shri.

Her husband, Nagesh Ishwar Rao, a former ISRO employee undergoing treatment for depression, strangled her in their apartment. He told police he was "anxious about her future after his death" and decided to kill her rather than leave her alone. He called the police himself after the murder.

3. Haryana — February 18

Victim: Mehak Dhawan, pregnant at the time of her death.

Her husband, chartered accountant Anshul Dhawan, slit her throat with scissors. He initially reported a robbery and kidnapping, claiming intruders had taken his wife. Police found inconsistencies — no signs of forced entry, his own hands showing defensive cuts — and he confessed within hours. He cited "suspicions about her character" as his motive. Police believe the murder was premeditated.

4. Hyderabad — February 18

Victim: A 29-year-old software employee, remarried in April 2025 after divorcing the accused.

Her ex-husband entered her home when she was alone and attacked her with a knife. She died of stab wounds. Investigations suggest the ex-husband held a grudge because she had filed a domestic violence case against him — which prevented his return to Canada, where he worked. He also blamed her for his mother's death.

5. Amethi — February 19

Victim: Chetna Shukla.

Her husband, Urmakant Shukla, a school teacher, is accused of killing her by electrocution. Her family alleges he had been having an extramarital affair with a colleague, and when Chetna confronted him, he murdered her.

6. Noida — February 14

Victim: Rekha, 26.

Found dead alongside Sumit, 32, with gunshot wounds inside a locked car on Valentine's Day. A pistol was in Sumit's hand. Rekha's family alleges the couple was murdered because of intercaste threats from her relatives — they had received taunts and warnings about the relationship.

7. Delhi — February 14

Victim: Sahil Solanki (male, gang-related).

This case differs: Solanki was murdered in a daylight gang rivalry shooting in Rohini by two juveniles who had been recruited through social media by the rival Tillu Tajpuria gang. The case is notable because the accused are minors, recruited online with promises of money and protection.

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The Pattern

The NCRB's latest complete data (2023, published late 2025) shows that intimate partner violence kills more Indian women than any other category of homicide. The majority of female homicide victims in India are killed by husbands, partners, or former partners. Strangulation is the most common method. Most murders occur in the victim's home. Most murderers are known to law enforcement — through prior complaints, restraining orders, or pending domestic violence cases.

Every empirical marker of danger was present in at least five of the seven cases documented above. And yet, in every case, the victim was still living with or accessible to her killer.

What This Demands

Not more candlelight marches. Not more hashtags. What these seven deaths demand is systemic intervention: functional protection orders, working panic devices, shelters with capacity, police who take the first complaint seriously instead of counselling the couple to "adjust."

None of this is new. All of it is urgent.