INDIA’S MOST DISHONORABLE CRIME- HONOR KILLING

“Society didn’t let their souls become united. Honour killing did”.

- Diptimayi Sahoo

Introduction

India has undergone significant changes in terms of technology, global competition, educational opportunities, and so on. However, one major aspect that we have failed to change in this country is the orthodox mentality of people, which forbids a young person from choosing his or her life partner based on his or her preferences. Thus, When a couple chooses to be together regardless of caste or religion, then, not only their community, but also their own family, including their father, mother, and brothers, chose to kill them rather than let them marry, to preserve the family's so-called "honor" in the society. This is what we call honor killing. In layman's Language, honour killing is the murder of the couple or either of them (usually the woman) in the name of the family's honour or prestige to prevent them from marrying each other. The cases of honor killings are reported more in the states of Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and some incidents in Delhi and Tamil Nadu as well. Also, burning alive, shooting , throwing stones till death in the middle of the village, hanging, stabbing are some brutal methods of punishing those who choose to live their life as per their wish in some parts of our country.

Causes That Leads to Honor Killings in India

1. Caste system- Being a patriarchal society with a joint Hindu family system for a very long time, the son or daughters in the family are often not asked about their wish to marry and most of the families sought to arrange marriages as it is often said in the Indian families, that marriage is not simply a union between two people, but a marriage with the entire family. Thus a family of the same status, same caste is preferred and the parents don’t even bother to look into other castes even if the family is a reputed one and well to do but of an inferior caste.

2. Khap panchayats- Many rural and remote areas in our country are ruled by Khap panchayts, who have so much influence that even local police do not interfere with their decisions.. Khap panchayats have given a lot of controversial decisions and opinions in India from time to time not just regarding honor killings but about rapes in India as well. For instance, a member of khap in Haryana blamed consumption of chowmien for increasing rapes in India that leads to hormonal disbalance and becomes the cause of indulging in such acts, along with that banning of jeans, using mobile phones, ordering of rape of women, lowering down the age of marrying from 18 to 16 are some of the activities that Khap panchayats gave assent to. With regards to honor killings, the Khap panchayats have several times ordered killing of the couple mercilessly and brutally to set an example that nobody else in the village commits the same mistake again.

3. Lack of education – The sense of right and wrong which can be instilled in an individual only through proper guidance and education is lacking in rural areas which is one big reason for poor mentality in India. Also, women are often not allowed to study, and even if they are, the dropout rate from schools in India is very high. Thus, they have no idea about their legal rights and safeguards that they can avail, if someone infringes upon their basic rights.

4. Lack of strict laws- in India, there are no specific provisions in the criminal laws, and this crime is merely punishable by the provisions of murder in section 302 and, culpable homicide under section 304 of Indian penal code, 1860. Honor killing not only amounts to killing, but it also fosters hate and terror in society, and in most cases, women are slain for falling in love with someone from a different caste. It is the need of the hour to make amendment in IPC and introduce a separate provision to punish those who commit this horrific crime.

Legal Provisions Regulating Right to Marry in India

1. Constitution of India, 1950 - in a recent order of writ petition namely, Mr Wajeed Khan H B vs The Commissioner Of Police filed in Karnataka high court in December 2020, the court remarked that it is the fundamental right of an adult to marry a person of his/her own choice and No one, regardless of caste or religion, has the right to infringe on the privacy of personal relationships of two individuals. Also in the case of, Vikas Yadav vs State Of U.P And Ors it was held that “Freedom, independence, constitutional identity, independent choice, and thinking of a woman, whether she is a wife, sister, daughter, or mother, cannot be restrained by physical force, intimidation, or mental brutality in the name of his self-assumed honour. Apart from that, neither the family members nor the collective members have the authority to assault the boy chosen by the girl.” Also honor killing directly abrogates other fundamental rights including article 14, 19, 21, 15, and 17.

2. Special marriage act, 1954- the special marriage act, enacted in 1954 came as a major relief to those adults who wished to marry each other irrespective of their caste and religion, which make it crystal clear that any two persons can go to the court and get married whomsoever they wish to (except people within prohibited degrees) and thus restricting a person from marrying inter-caste or inter-religion is in stark contravention of this act.

3. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989- this act protects the persons of scheduled castes and schedule tribes from being subjected to forms of oppression like,-assault with the intent of outraging a women’s modesty, making a person of such caste walk around naked in public, sexual harassment, etc.

Recent cases of honor killing in India

Even though there are a lot of laws that protect a person's freedom to marry according to his or her wishes, the number of honour killings is on the rise, and the biggest problem is that these cases often go undetected, or the perpetrators hide the crime by mislabeling it as routine accidents or suicides with the support of powerful people.

a. In March, 2021, even after granting of protection by the Rajasthan high court, the girl, who was in live in relationship with her partner who was of Dalit caste, was abducted and murdered by her own father who surrendered himself and confessed about the same to the police authorities.

b. In December,2020 while a couple was on their way to court to fulfill the legal formalities to get marry both being of different castes, they were shot to death. In the preliminary findings, it was found out that it was the father of the deceased woman who had opened fire and shot them in broad daylight and as a result, the couple died on the spot.

c. In May, 2019 a newly married couple was set on fire as it was an inte-caste love marriage between the two. It was the women’s family members including her father and uncles who murdered them brutally as they were strongly against this marriage.

Reforms to curb honor killings in India

In 2018, in the landmark case of Shakti Vahini v. Union of India, the court gave certain guidelines that need to be followed till we have stringent laws governing honor crime in India which includes trial of cases of honor killing in fast track courts, immediate actions against Khap panchayats by deputy superintendent of police, security to the couple/family in danger, special cells in every district to receive complaints on such matters and a 24-hour helpline for the couple to receive complain or to get protection.

Also, the only state that took honor killing seriously and passed a bill recognizing honor crime is Rajasthan. In August 2019 ,The Rajasthan Prohibition of Interference with the Freedom of Matrimonial Alliances in the Name of Honour and Tradition Bill, 2019 was passed which punishes a person who causes the death of a couple or either of them in the name of honor with life imprisonment or death and a fine of 5 lakhs rupees and in case of grievous hurt, the punishment shall be rigorous imprisonment not less than 10 years which is extendable up to imprisonment for life.

Conclusion and Suggestions

With the above analysis, it can be concluded that stringent legislation either with the amendment in IPC or by introducing a special act punishing sternly the perpetrators of this horrible crime has to be adopted. The Rajasthan assembly has set an example by passing the bill against this crime and a similar law based on this bill should be passed and implemented across the country, as court directions alone will not suffice to combat this crime. Also, with a larger emphasis on education after schooling, including graduation and a professional degree course, the government should help and focus on upgrading higher education facilities, particularly in rural areas. Every person in the country, particularly young people's families should understand that there is no ‘honour’ in killing your daughters, sons or any other young person just because they have chosen to live their life as per their desire, with the partner of their choice, but it is the most shameful crime a human can ever commit.

~Ishika Sarraf