Reverse honor killing: A teenage girl has been arrested in India on charges of killing her father and brother who opposed her affair with a lower-caste boy

According to police, the 14-year-old has confessed to mixing poison with a vegetable curry which she served to her father and younger brother who both died after consuming the dish. The incident - a reversal of the usual honor killing scenario - occurred in Malpur village, 45 miles from Patna, the state capital of Bihar. The girl's mother, Sunita Devi, told police that she survived because she had been ill and refused to eat the food. The boy was a member of India's Dalit community. Dalits, or "untouchables" as they used to be known, occupy the lowest rung in India's rigid caste hierarchy. Most live in poverty and do menial, supposedly unclean jobs like collecting garbage. The girl's family, which belong to a higher caste, had previously beaten the boy when the couple were caught trying to elope. Such incidents resulting from disputed inter-caste relationships more commonly see male family members murdering their daughter or sister for bringing "dishonor" on the family. There are no official figures on honor killings, though an independent study in 2010 suggested that as many as 900 were committed every year in the northern Indian states of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. Bihar is one of India's most impoverished and caste-ridden states.