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Honour Killings : Stop Attaching Honour!

By Abhinav Srivastava

12 July, 2010
Countercurrents.org

Supreme Court of India recently issued notices to the Centre, Haryana government and six other states on the steps taken to protect young couples from facing wrath of the khap panchayats.

Though it is not a common practice or part of culture of India and being practiced in parts of a few states but every other morning we read in newspapers some story of so called “Honour Killing”. At the outset, we need to ask ourselves as well as our powerful media if there can be any sense of “Honour” in a killing. There is some or other reason behind every murder. Do we attach a glorifying word describing the reason with every murder?

We need to unite and stand against these shameful killings as well as against the use of this phrase. It is not only indirectly justifying the killings but also supporting the cause in a way. if Khap panchayats are backing the killings, we are doing the same by attaching Honour to the Killings.

So, what gives the courage to the family members to kill thier own daughters and sisters as well as the grooms they chose? I find clash of moral and social values behind it. Our country, India, looks like divided in two different parts; First, those living in the urban and metropolitan centres, who are progressing not only economically and technologically, but also in terms of their values and outlook towards their lives. Second, those in the rural India who are still bound by the rigid beliefs of the caste system. It is very unfortunate that the caste system in India has turned into a social evil. Many young people have lost their lives in the name of honour. And there are many more who are at the stake of this rigid belief system.

The number of love marriages might have gone up in the metros in India but the reality remains different in the villages. Young educated people come to metros, work in a modern industry, where the co-worker or the neighbour is not concerned about his or her caste. They change their outlook with time and start coming out of the traditional belief system. But their families are still following the same centuries old do’s and dont’s. Here comes the clash of ideas, clash of belief system and a number of problems arise. Honour Killing is the culmination of this clash.

Therefore, the need of hour is to sensitize our society on the issue that there should not be and there can not be any honur in a killing. The clash of ideas may be solved with a human approach.

Apart from this, role of Panchayats and police needs to be analysed. We seriously need a new stringent law for it as our honourable Supreme Court already proposed. There should be a ban on all decisions made by these self appointed courts in the villages. They have proved fatal for many innocent lives. In many villages, the leader of the self-appointed court has so much power that the police are kept away from village politics. On many occasions parents kill and dump the bodies of their children in the name of honour and the police are not even informed. This is why there are so many unrecorded deaths.

Lets come and join hands against this barbaric practice which is becoming a shame to our country. Stand against attaching Honour to the Killings!


Abhinav Srivastava holds a degree of M.Phil from JNU, New Delhi (2007)
Presently in Central Govt. Service in Chennai. [email protected]