Chandigarh, July 2 (IANS) The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Haryana government to pay a compensation of Rs.600,000 to the mother of a man who was murdered by his wife's family in 2007, a lawyer said Saturday.

 
 Manoj, 23, a resident of Kaithal district, and Babli, 19, had eloped and married in May 2007. The couple then approached the police for protection.
 
 However, the girl's family killed the couple June 15, 2007, after the police team provided to the couple left them unguarded at Pippli town in Kurukshetra district, allegedly in collusion with the girl's family.
 
 Their bodies were recovered June 23.
 
 Delivering the verdict Friday, Justice Ritu Bahri directed the state government to pay Rs.300,000 each for the deaths of Manoj and Babli to manoj's mother Chanderpati.
 
 "Court has directed the government to pay Rs.600,000 to the petitioner as compensation on account of death due to unauthorised withdrawal of security or police protection," Chanderpati's counsel H.C. Arora said here Saturday.
 
 "The present proceedings for claiming compensation were filed in August 2007," he added.
 
 In March 2010, a Karnal court had sentenced five people to death and one to life imprisonment for the killings. Those who were awarded death penalty included Babli’s brother Suresh, cousins Gurdev and Satish and uncles Baru Ram and Rijender.
 
 However, the Punjab and Haryana High Court commuted the death sentence awarded to four convicts to life imprisonment in March this year.