Indian Laws on Honor Killings

When you take your morning newspaper from the doorstep and settle down to read, you will find that incidents pertaining to honor killings in India are either in the headlines or in the pages thereafter every day. Lets face an ugly truth about the Indian society - honor killings are rising day by day despite stringent Indian laws.

Stringent Indian laws on honor killings fail to curb the increasing trend. Interestingly, honor killings happen, irrespective of a person’s religion or social status. Every year over 5, 000 brides are killed for dowry in India. In 2007, approximately 655 cases were registered as honor killings. Imagine what the unofficial statistics must be really like. The worst affected region in India is Muzaffarnagar (U.P), with 25 percent of honor killing in official police reports.

Indian Laws on Honor Killings: What Triggers It

Indian laws do not treat honor killings in a specific or separte clause. To explain it simply, honor killing is when a person is killed by his /her family members or relatives because it is believed that the victim has brought dishonor, shame or humiliation to the family or the community.

To simplify it further, let’s use some make-believe examples based on what we have skimmed across newspaper reports:

• Example 1

In a village, a boy called Raju wants to marry Uma, a girl from another caste. Their families oppose this and the couple decides to run away. Uma’s brothers bring them back and kill them both to restore the community’s honor as well as that of the family.

• Example 2

In a metropolitan city, a girl called Uma and a boy called Raju fall in love. Uma belong to a rich, upper caste family with influential ties. Raju comes from a labor class family. Economic disparity becomes a very huge problem, particularly for Uma’s family. When the couple try to elope and marry, Uma’s family kills them both because they do not want to face any ‘social’ humiliation because of her action in the rich society they live in.

Indian Laws on Honor Killings: Community Mentality and Bifurcations

Typically, the police investigate honor killings but we still live in a society where we have learned to segregate people on the basis of social status, economic standards, religion and caste. The community mentality tends to be basic - an individual is identified by his caste and status rather than by anything else. Sometimes religious outfits and caste-based social units also encourage bifurcations based on caste and religion. The extent of orthodoxy in the Indian society is still a paradox because of the considerable chasm between the beliefs of those who prefer to live the life of the traditional society and those who embrace modern views with a vision to create a changed order.

Indian Laws on Honor Killing: A Severe Criminal Offence

Indian laws pertaining to honor killings are covered under the Indian Penal Code. Clearly, the IPC considers honor killings as a heinous crime. Unfortunately, honor killing is not classified as a separate crime in India. However, the government of India is set to add new section to the criminal law to define honor killing as a separate crime.

The proposal has already been approved by the Home Ministry and the Law Ministry. The government is likely to pass a bill in Parliament in the next budget session.

The punishment for honor killing carries the same punishment as that of murder. The punishment could range from life term to death sentence.