Honour Killing
An honour killing (also called a customary killing) is the murder of a (female) family member by one or more fellow (mostly male) family members, in which the perpetrators (and potentially the wider community) believe the victim to have brought dishonour upon the family, clan, or community. The perceived dishonor is normally the result of the following behaviors, or the suspicion of such behaviours like wanting to terminate or prevent an arranged marriage or desiring to marry by own choice.
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of women who are murdered by their families each year in the name of family "honor." Its difficult to get precise numbers on the phenomenon of honor killing; the murders frequently go unreported, the perpetrators unpunished, and the concept of family honor justifies the act in the eyes of some societies. More than 1,000 young people in India have been done to death every year owing to Honour Killings linked to forced marriages and the country needs to introduce stringent legislation to deal firmly with the heinous crime. "Forced marriages and honour killings are often intertwined. Marriage can be forced to save honour, and women can be murdered for rejecting a forced marriage and marrying a partner of their own choice who is not acceptable for the family of the girl.
Caste still remains one of the most important factors governing the lives of many people in some parts of India. The huge number of honour killings that sometimes go unrecorded happen because of inter-caste marriages. They revolve around issues such as runaway marriages or relationships between people of different castes. In many cases the groom or the bride has been killed for marrying someone from a lower caste. These so called honour killings not only shame India but also its vibrant and powerful diaspora around the planet. “On one hand we have post-modern India signing nuclear deals and on the other we have a tribal system that kills young people because they fall in love, giving the impression that India is still in the medieval era,”
Not just in Punjab and Haryana, but in western Uttar Pradesh as well, women are being put to death if they “violate” the honour of their family and community by marrying a person outside her own caste, community or religion.
Law Against Honour Killing
The government has said that it will be bringing in a law against honour killings in the on-going Monsoon Session of Parliament itself.
Union home minister P. Chidambaram said that there was a need to identify and punish the crime of honour killing with “greater severity”.
CONCLUSION
In such an ailing situation it is very important that such incidents are taken care of properly by the state and also the society. Such crimes can only be eradicated by:
- Putting very serious penal sanctions.
- Active police and panchayat body; as these crimes are mainly confined to rural or village areas.
- Imparting education to the village people at large.
- Active participation of the NGO’s relating to women empowerment.
- Judiciary must be positive on such cases.
In India, the Congress favoured a specific law to deal with honour killings.
Research from around the world point to the fact that violence against women can only be combated if there is a healthy partnership between women’s groups and the state apparatus. While women’s groups must protect their independence, on certain issues they have to work effectively with the criminal justice system, joining forces to protect the rights of women victims.
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