Debate about honor killings resurfaces in India

If an Indian woman rejects an arranged marriage, elopes with her lover, becomes a victim of sexual assault or wants a divorce, she is no more the 'pride' of her family. Some families even go to the extreme step of killing her and defending this murder as an 'honor killing'. This phenomenon is more common in the rural areas of India.

22-year-old journalist Nirupama Pathak wanted to marry her boyfriend Priyabhanshu Ranjan. The two Delhi-based journalists had met two years ago on the campus of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. Their friends say they were an 'inseparable couple'.

After Pathak was found hanging from the ceiling fan when visiting her parents on April 29, police arrested her mother. They suspect her to have murdered her own daughter in an 'honor killing'.

Marriage outside of caste against tradition

Ishita Mukhopadhyay, a professor in Women Studies at Calcutta University, explains: "The family of Nirupama Pathak was particularly involved with the fact that she is going to marry a boy of a lower caste and this is against the traditions of Indian society. The point that is happening in India is, with respect to women, the regressive parts of traditions are being retained and this is something which is going side by side with the so-called globalization."

Cases of 'honor killings' regularly make headlines in India; 23-year-old pregnant Sunita and her lover were killed by Sunita's family in Haryana in 2008. The people of the village proudly expressed their support of the killing, announcing that the couple deserved it. A few days later in Gwalior, Central India, retired serviceman, Dhairvirsinh Bhedoriya, allegedly killed his 20-year-old daughter Vandana with an axe for marrying a boy against his wishes.

Even educated and well-off families still draw the line at inter-caste marriages. Sunday newspapers carry pages of matrimonial advertisements, neatly classified by caste, sub-caste and religion. There are even a host of matrimonial websites which exclusively cater to one caste or another. Nirupama Pathak's father was an educated bank manager but wanted his daughter to marry a boy of the same caste.

'Patriarchal convictions are to blame'

Professor Mukhopadhyay blames patriarchal conventions for such social maladies. "When these ideologies are challenged then they put it tight on your shoulders and try to pull you down. Honor killings are due to patriarchy which is prevailing all across the world."

India's crime records do not list honor killings as a separate crime, and thus there are no official statistics. Very few cases are taken to the authorities and reported by NGOs and they rarely end with the perpetrators being convicted.

In 2006 the Supreme Court of India strongly condemned honor killings as "barbaric and shameful acts of murder committed by brutal, feudal-minded persons who deserve punishment". The law allows all Indian citizens aged 18 or older to get married to whom they wish. But S. K. Ainul, a lawyer at Kolkata High Court, says there is a lack of awareness.

"In India every girl or boy can marry anybody of his or her choice. Nobody can stop them, and for their protection court is also there. But people are suffering due to the lack of knowledge."

The age-old practice of honour killing thrives because it is approved of in many parts of the country. But it also thrives because of the reluctance of the police and courts to intervene and the government to understand the seriousness of this issue.

Author: Debarati Mukherjee (Kolkata)
Editor: Grahame Lucas