Sensational Indian murder case stirs debate over dating apps and traditional values

Comment on this storyCommentNEW DELHI — On a Thursday afternoon several weeks ago, India’s most sensational murder case in years kicked off in a South Delhi court.Aaftab

Poonawala, a 28-year-old chef and food blogger, was being tried for allegedly killing his 27-year-old girlfriend, Shraddha Walkar — the IT saleswoman whom he had met on the

dating app Bumble in 2019 — and sawing her body into 35 pieces. News channels reenacted the grisly details using animated graphics; newspapers furrowed into the couple’s stormy

relationship. Even professional lawyers expressed outrage and gathered by the hundreds outside the judge’s chambers to demand that Poonawala be summarily hanged.But in India,

Poonawala isn’t all that is on trial.Instead of viewing the brutal killing as a one-off, Indian society has been litigating a host of related questions. On social media, on cable

news and within family WhatsApp group chats, the story of Walkar, a Hindu woman who defied her parents’ wishes and moved in with Poonawala, a Muslim man she met online, has been

the vehicle for intense, often intergenerational debates over women’s independence, family, religion, domestic violence — and, above all, love in the age of apps.In some ways,

the Walkar saga has reflected a collision of two worlds. India, one of the world’s most digitally connected countries, is witnessing a dramatic growth in the use of dating apps.

Most Indian users hail from smaller towns, and during its most recent financial quarter, Austin-based Bumble said its India revenue had doubled from a year earlier.Yet India is

also a country where the average woman marries at 19, and nuptials are often arranged by parents and dictated by caste and religion. Just 1 percent of women choose to not get

married. Only 13 percent of marriages are between people of different castes, while 2.5 percent of couples belong to different religions.When Walkar’s killing hit the headlines,

it prompted a traditional backlash over the growth of unmarried couples living together — commonly called “live-in relationships” in India — and the lurking dangers of the

apps. There was also the religious element, which added fuel to the explosive story: Walkar’s Hindu parents broke off ties with their daughter two years ago after she decided to

move in with Poonawala, according to police records. The Walkars “don’t do inter-religion/inter-caste marriage,” her father told police, records show.At a news conference

organized on Dec. 9 by members of India’s ruling party, Walkar’s father, Vikas, urged the country to restrict dating apps and to better educate children so they become