'Manoj and Babli: The Hate Story' Released

Penguin Books India brings the spine chilling story of Manoj and Babli

Chandigarh Literary Society and Penguin India released, Chandra Suta Dogra’s debut book  “Manoj and Babli: A Hate Story” at a function organized at UT Guest House here on 2nd August.

Chander Suta Dogra, who is a senior journalist having worked with ‘Ourlook’ magazine and is currently the Assistant Editor with ‘The Hindu’, invited her mother Mrs. Sudesh Chandel to release the book.

Others who spoke on the occasion included a prolific writer and reviewer Neeraj Bali, Maj Gen (Retd) Pushpinder Singh, and a well-known columnist Kishie Singh.

This is the true story of the honour killing of Manoj and Babli of Haryana and its aftermath. In this painstakingly researched book, Chander Suta Dogra recreates how the couple eloped, breaking the taboo of same-caste marriage, and was seized and brutalized by the girl’s people, with their bodies being eventually dumped into a canal. Tacitly approving the deed, the village people did not attend the funeral and the tardiness of the local police and other agencies bordered on acquiescence.

The book by Penguin India, powerfully describes how, with the support of the media and women activists, Manoj’s mother, Chandrapati, and Sister Seema stood up to intimidation, social ostracism and the fury of the khaps or Jat councils across north India.  Manoj and Babli is a brilliant expose of the face-off between those who abide by the law and the upholders of archaic traditions that clash with it.

Chander Suta Dogra, earlier with Outlook magazine and now senior assistant editor with The Hindu, has covered north India for two decades. She has travelled extensively in the heartlands of Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir for investigative reporting, often at great risk to herself, on issues ranging from caste and women to the agricultural crisis.  

Published by Penguin India: Rs 299