HONOR KILLING: IZZAT KA SAWAL

 Honour killing: Killing for protecting so-called “izzat.”

“Hamare Ghar ki Izzat”, I think this phrase is sufficient to explain the root cause of this heinous crime. Honour killing is defined as killing for honor, a death that is awarded to the women or men by their own family members for marrying against their wishes or having a pre-marital relationship, marrying within the same gotra or marrying outside their caste. There are some others factors also that can lead to honor killing such as losing virginity before marriage and so on. The main reason contributing to this heinous crime is the mentality of people, that they are not ready to accept the fact their children can marry in accordance with their own choices be it in their own caste, religion or outside their caste or religion. Sometimes it is not just about the caste or religion, there are certain cases in which the family murder their own people just because they do not want that tag of love marriage. Their so-called “izzat” decreases when their daughters get marry according to their own choices. They impose the burden of their izzat on the shoulders of their daughter. These peoples are so hypocrites that they consider pride in drinking alcohol and committing domestic violence.  There are certain families in India that expect the daughters of their family to only study and not to go out of their house except for the purpose of going to school and then complete their education and get married to the person chosen by their family. They do not prioritize the choices of their daughters, neither they ask their opinion regarding their marriage. Where having male friends is considered as a sin, where girls are told to do everything after marriage. It's like that Marriage is only key for their freedom.

Presence of khap panchayat is also responsible for honor crime. Khap panchayat decisions are directed against women affecting their personal choices like how to dress like how to dress and whom to marry, young girls are threatened, killed and even forced to commit suicide as under the khap verdicts. There is no question of rights and as far as women are concerned in these khap ruled areas.

Honour killing is not new in our country it could be traced back to the time of partition of our country where several women were forcefully killed so that the honor could be preserved. Honour crimes violate Articles 14, 15, 19,21 and 39 of the Indian constitution. The Increase in a number of honor killing is because the formal governance failed to reach to the rural areas and as a result, this practice continues and I today’s world the scenario is that this killing for honor is not only confined to rural areas rather it is common in the metropolitan cities like Delhi.

There are some initiatives that are taken by our government against the bodies like khap panchayat such as the law commission have drafted a bill titled “Prohibition of Unlawful Assembly 2011”. The bill provides for punishment fir bodies that have ordered killing of couples that are accused of love marriage. Also, there are number of cases where the judiciary has given pronouncements against these extra-constitutional bodies.

But still, the cases of honor killing are reported and the states having the highest reported case of honor killing in Uttar Pradesh.

These crimes for honor violate human rights, infringes the right to live with dignity as per article 21 of the Indian Constitution. It shows the lack of attributes of empathy, love, compassion, tolerance among fellow human beings, creates a crisis of credibility in the government machinery to control such killings.

It undermines the integrity of institutions such as of police, judiciary etc.

It infringes the right to choose and creates stress, fear and trauma among the lower. It hampers a nation of integration, solidarity, corporation etc. It hampers peace and shows a lack of rational thinking capacity and emotional intelligence. It is not a crime against any individual rather it is a crime against the whole society at large where some group of people consider them more Superior and consider themselves above law.

With such kind of acts the ethical values of a society such as tolerance, respect for diversity, self -determination etc. are degraded when such acts are committed.

It’s high time that these people change their mentality, and these people are no one else rather the parents because if parents are there to support you then these khap panchayat and other such persons are no one to punish you for the crime which you have not committed. There is a need to understand that love marriage is not a sin for society rather if you force someone to get married to that person whom he/she does not like then the person would not be able to lead a happy life. Laws are required to be stricter to tackle these killings and punish them who take laws in their own hand and take away the life of the innocent young adults. It high time for the khaps themselves to change and reform themselves with the changing times.