Honour Killings In India : A crime with no law

Honour killings has been a major social issue in India.In 2015, more than 251 people have died in honour killings with increase of 796% from 2014.The states like Haryana,have a recorded number of cases due to the infamous khap panchayats present there.Honour killings in India is a living proof of patriarchal nature of society draped in religious,caste and cultural differences.The murder and torture by the woman’s kin speaks volumes about the absence of liberty to choose partner by the woman. A lot of cases have been recorded where charges of “rape” have been put by the woman’s family on the male partner even though the marriage or alliance have been mutual and conscientious.The inter caste marriages,the naming of a new phenomenon “love-jihad” and moreover cases where family was not approving of marriage have been reasons of honour killings. However,there is no concrete law present for convicting the culprits involved in “ honour killings “.

 

Even though it is both the families of male and female partners are involved in killings,the majority of honour killings are done by those of female.One explanation can be notion of “daughters” being seen as the “honour” of the family.n India, the notion that sees parents having the right to control their daughter’s life choices including her marriage because of the caste and religion boundaries mainly. The control is done to prevent their girls from what the people call “brainwashing” by male partners of different communities and luring them to marry outside their norms.

 

Any autonomy by women is a threat to this order. A huge amount of cases have been reported of violence on men of Dalit castes for marrying the woman from a more privileged upper caste. However,violence against an upper caste man who marries a lower caste woman is rare and the cases of such marriages are also rare.Unfortunately,the violence reported in these cases is against the woman mainly by her kin.Thus,in both inter-religion and inter-caste relationships women mainly are subjected to immense torture by their families, their communities, and increasingly, right-wing political parties as well.Women's movements in India have been campaigning from much longer time for a law against "honour-based" crimes, similar to the one enacted by Pakistan. Even the United Nations too has recommended laws against honour killing crimes.

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