Growing Honor Killings In the Indian Capital Region

As per Indian media reports, various women’s groups have condemned the growing number of honor killings in Delhi and its neighboring states. Political groups have also condemned the killings, but they are afraid of antagonizing the politically influential, vote-garnering khap panchayats. According to one report, the ruling Congress Party called for strictly dealing with the culprits behind the honor killings, but "was careful not to comment... on the khap panchayats."[8]

Ranjana Kumari, the director of the Delhi-based Centre for Social Research (CSR), expressed concern over the killings, saying: "This is absolutely inhuman treatment for any society. This is not honor killing... it is caste killing. Moreover, whose honor are they talking about? Killing your own sons and daughters in the name of honor is wrong. This is Talibanization, if you defy the so-called rules you are killed."[9]

While it will take legislation against honor killings to be updated to reign in the problem, the Indian government is under pressure to issue an executive order to tackle the problem. Kumari's Center for Social Research has begun an online signature campaign requesting Indian President Pratibha Patil to ban such extremist justice.

The petition says: "India cannot afford to have a parallel justice system, which undoes all the good that was ushered in by its founding fathers. Also, the tyranny unleashed by khap panchayats on the pretext of safeguarding tradition needs to be quelled under threat of severe punishment."[10]

Moushumi Basu, a women's rights activist and member of the People's Union for Democratic Rights, expresses concern that honor killings are spreading in the region: "Earlier such incidents were limited to Haryana and now it's in Delhi. I think it is the responsibility of the state governments to curb such events."

Author Kalpana Sharma: "Modernity is Ensuring That Girls and Boys are Getting Educated, Moving Away From Their Homes...; Yet, the Deadly Reality of Their Lives is That on This One Issue of Marriage They Really Have No Choice"

In an article in The Hindu newspaper, prominent Indian author and journalist Kalpana Sharma observed that a change is needed in the attitudes and traditions of Indian society in order to prevent honor killings.

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Following are some excerpts from her article:[11]

"The horrifying nature of some of the honor killings that have been recorded – and there are probably many more that go unreported – make one wonder how we can claim to be a civilized society. Statistics are difficult to collate, as deaths due to honor killings are not listed as such in the National Crime Records Bureau data. But we cannot deny that their numbers are growing. According to one survey, there are at least 100 honour killings each year in just [the states of] Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

"How do you define honor crimes? Human Rights Watch gives the following definition: 'Honor crimes are acts of violence, usually murder, committed by male family members against female family members, who are held to have brought dishonor upon the family.'

"And how do you bring this 'dishonor' on your family? In India, this translates into marrying into another caste, another religion or even another class. On October 26, 2009, the reported murder of the daughter of an Assistant Commissioner of Customs in Patna [the capital of Bihar state], who eloped with the son of a Class IV employee, was one such [an] instance where class was an issue.

"Only in one honor killing case so far, has the court come down hard on those involved. In what will be seen as a historic judgment, a court in Karnal, Haryana, sentenced to death five people and gave life imprisonment to one for the murder of Manoj (23) and Babli (19) of Karora Village in Kaithal district. Their crime? The khap panchayat ruled that as they belonged to the same gotra they could not marry.

"The common thread that runs through all these incidents is the decision of the boy and girl to choose their own partners rather than letting families decide. And that is at the root of the societal problem we face, irrespective of caste or creed or region. For, modernity is ensuring that girls and boys are getting educated, moving away from their homes, finding jobs, watching images of people of their generation making free choices. Yet, the deadly reality of their lives is that on this one issue of marriage they really have no choice. And if they defy entrenched traditions and attitudes, they are sentenced to death, no less.

"Can anything be done? Even if the deeper issue of societal change cannot occur overnight, are there steps that can be taken to curb such regressive influences?..."

"The law in any case can do only so much. What has to change are attitudes and traditions. How can we talk of independence, or empowerment, if on an issue as basic as marriage, women and men are told they have no choice? And worse, that defying tradition means inviting the death penalty. How can such a situation be accepted by a civilized society? How many more young women, and men, must die before some sense prevails?"

Editorial in Leading Indian Daily: "In Village After Village, Khap Panchayats Have Hounded Out, Forcibly Separated, and... Murdered Newly Married Couples"

In an editorial, titled "Barbaric practice," the leading secular newspaper The Hindu recently stressed that legal changes alone may not prevent the practice of honor killing, and added: "any enhancement of the legal architecture must be complemented by social enlightenment for results to prove enduring."

Following are some excerpts from the editorial:[12]

"Sardar Patel, the architect of [princely] states unification [with India], was worried that Indian democracy would prove transient: 'Almost overnight we have introduced …the superstructure of a modern system of government… unless the transplanted growth takes a healthy root in the soil, there will be a danger of collapse and chaos.' In the six decades since then, India's home-grown democracy has held together beautifully – or so India is fond of telling the world. Yet every so often this smug self-belief is shattered by incidents so gruesome, so medieval that they serve to recall the Sardar's worst fears. How can a nation cast in a modern, liberal democratic framework, with a Constitution held up as a model to emulate and laws that match the best in the world, tolerate the ugly phenomenon of khap (caste) panchayats with their kangaroo court-style instant justice?

"For years, the panchayats, prevalent mainly in the North Indian States of Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, have practiced violence as if it was a credo, brutally and summarily punishing those overstepping the redlines. This form of 'retributive justice' has particularly targeted young men and women seeking to marry within the same gotra. In village after village, khap panchayats have hounded out, forcibly separated, and all failing, murdered newly married couples – justifying the horrendous edicts as necessary to uphold local culture and honor.

"In the first-ever conviction in a case of 'honor killing,' a Haryana court recently sentenced five persons to death. The verdict has turned the spotlight on the recurring crime, triggering widespread debate followed by the promise of official action. Nonetheless, two concerns arise. Given the frequency of this barbaric practice – in the last year alone several couples have been strung up and the baby of a young mother put up for sale – why do so few cases come up for trial? The continued use of the term 'honor killing' is itself deeply disturbing: it implies sanction for a system of patriarchy that stigmatizes women, tying them to outdated notions of purity and chastity. Several remedial measures have been suggested to rein in the khap panchayats, including a separate section in the Indian Penal Code.

"However, any enhancement of the legal architecture must be complemented by social enlightenment for results to prove enduring. The khaps have become a law unto themselves because of social and political support. At a recent khap maha panchayat [grand court], members had the temerity to demand a new law to prevent same-gotra marriages. Without a change in this reactionary attitude, India will remain a country that ritually holds elections but falls way short of a truly modern, liberal democracy."