CHAPTER - 1

INTRODUCTION

1.
Honour Killing
Killings and other crimes in the name of honour are still commonplace across the
world. Such
honour killings are defined as the murder of a family or clan member by one or mor
e fellow
family members, where the murderers (and potentially the wider community) believ
e the
victim to have brought dishonour upon the family, clan, or community. This perce
ived
dishonour is normally the result of
(a) Utilizing dress codes unacceptable to the family
(b) Wanting out of an arranged marriage or choosing to marry by own choice or
(c) Engaging in certain sexual acts.
These killings result from the perception that defence of honour justifies killi
ng a person
whose behaviour dishonours their clan or family. "Honour" crime involves violenc
e,
including murder, committed by people who want to defend the reputation of their
family or
community. Honour violence occurs worldwide, from South America to Asia. The exa
ct
figure of how many men and women have been killed in the name of 'honour' is unk
nown.
Not all countries keep official statistics and it's a crime that can be difficul
t to detect. But it's
believed that the number of deaths is in the thousands. In 2000, Asma Jahangir,
a UN special
rapporteur, reported that the practice of honour killings was growing. There is
concern over a
rise in 'honour suicides' in Turkey since the sentence for 'honour' killers incr
eased in 2005.
The tougher punishments may have inadvertently contributed to more female suicid
es
occuring at the instigation of men who want to avoid longer imprisonments.1
None of the world's major religions condone honour-related crimes. But perpetrat
ors have
sometimes tried to justify their actions on religious grounds. "Honour crime hap
pens across
the board in the Asian community," says Ram Gidoomal of the South Asian Developm
ent
Partnership. "People try to blame Muslims, Hindus or Sikhs but it tends to happe
n in families
where there are the strongest ties and expectations. It's a very strong cultural
issue." Leaders
of the world's faiths have also strongly denounced a connection between religion
and honour
1 Retrieved from www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/honourcrimes, Honor crimes on 06/04/2011.
killings.2 In parts of northern India and even in Muslim-dominated nations, horr
ific
punishments in the name of honour ranging from rape to murder, are not uncommon.

2. Khap Panchayats
The caste panchayat or the Khap is the body consisting of a few village fanatics
. They believe
that same clan marriages, i.e. intra-gotra marriages are incest and thus should
be done away
with. Khap panchayat imposes its writ through social boycotts and fines and in m
ost cases
end up either killing or forcing the victims to commit suicide. All this is done
in the name of
brotherhood and honour. It is due to the inherent weakness of the democratically
elected
Panchayati Raj institutions, Khap Panchayat have been powerful. There are variou
s reasons
for the Khap panchayat being powerful among them the most important one is that
people do
not know there rights and the law enforcing and protecting them. The caste panch
ayats sit in
judgement on matters of marital or domestic discord or on issues relating to lan
d. Often,
villagers give precedence to the judgement of a caste panchayat rather than that
delivered by
the legal panchayat -a constitutional body of men and women elected by villagers
to decide
local issues. While most such crimes go unrecorded, AIDWA warns that honour kill
ings are
on the rise in India. In Muzaffarnagar, the worst affected district of Uttar Pra
desh, 13 cases of
honour killings were reported in the first nine months of 2003, up from ten in 2
002. Some 35
couples were also declared missing during this period.3
CHAPTER-2
2 Retrieved from www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/honourcrimes on 06/03/2011.
3 Retrieved from www.hindustantimes.com on Honour killings on the rise in India:
Women's group on
13/03/2011.
HONOUR KILLING IN THE INDIAN CONTEXT
Honour killing is a social evil, still prevalent in India after 60 years of inde
pendence. Not
only does it disintegrate, but also shows that the people are still clinging to
inappropriate
societal norms which are a threat to the national prosperity. Nearly 70% of the
nation resides
in rural and semi-rural areas. When only a minuscule portion of the population i
s enjoying the
benefit of modernisation, science and rational thinking how can we term ourselve
s as a great
nation. Every five year a new Prime Minister and his council prepares a list tar
gets, but why
is it that nowhere it is ever mentioned to resolve the problem of honour killing
.
In India honour killing has got a deeper meaning and serves a different motive i
n our villages.
Honour killing is murder of womenfolk by family members, generally male, who are
obligated by social pressure to remove stains on their family s honour. A woman ca
n tarnish
the family honour due to several reasons like refusing an arranged marriage, elo
ping with her
beloved, being the victim of sexual assault or just because she wants a divorce
out of an
unsuccessful marriage. This is not one of the predicaments which women in India
face. There
have been various other social evils such as sati prathan , burning of wife on her
husband s
pyre, child marriage, domestic violence, dowry killing, etc. The position of the
Indian woman
has always being in jeopardy. Many governmental and non-governmental organisatio
ns have
taken a step against each of them. In many cases they tasted success but it was
still bitter.
Similar is the case of honour killing. It is has been existing from time immemor
ial in India
but the number of cases reported are a handful. The reason is that in villages n
obody wants to
be a witness to the crime as they are frightened of being ostracized. It is gene
rally the family
members who commit the crime to remove the stain on their honour. The teenage br
others of
victims are frequently directed to commit the murder because, as minors, they wo
uld be
subject to considerably lighter sentencing if there is a legal action. Typically
, they would
serve only three months to a year.
Honour killing is practiced or rather committed generally in areas related to di
fferent castes.
These killings are generally advocated by a panchayat which is formulated on the
footing of
castes. This violence is committed in the name of saving the "honour" of the com
munity,
caste or family," says a leading Indian women's group, the All India Democratic
Women's
Association (AIDWA) in a resolution passed in the Indian capital, New Delhi4.
4 Retrieved from www.hindustantimes.com, Honour killings on the rise in India: W
omen's group on 10/03/2011.
In India, there has been a general aversion to accepting that crimes and killing
s in the name of
honour are carried out. In reality, however, honour crimes are routinely committ
ed in the
name of protecting one s family s honour. Although there are many forms of honour cr
imes
that are committed in the Indian context, this report focuses specifically on ho
nour crimes
committed in the name of caste honour, specifically in the northern states of Ha
ryana, Punjab,
Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. These crimes are often committed by self appointed
caste or
khap panchayats, which are public lynching, parading naked in the streets, rape, m
urder,
forceful separation and divorce, shaving of heads and eating of human excreta an
d drinking
human urine, etc. All these crimes are committed by the unconstitutional entity
called the
caste panchayat.
The caste panchayats or KHAP panchayat, commonly referred to as in the state of
Haryana
and western Uttar Pradesh, constitute of few villagers from the so-called elite
caste who
primarily deny intra-gotra marriage. These are all-male groups of self-proclaime
d guardians
of caste interests and honour which have the support of the richer sections and en
joy
political patronage. The caste panchayats function as a parallel judicial struct
ure to which the
elected panchayats are either subordinated to or co-opted by them. They are refe
rred to as
Kangaroo Courts; which are the sham legal proceedings and which are set-up in orde
r to
give the impression of a fair legal process. They basically oppose the intra-got
ra marriages
and are against modernisation.
1. Gotra
Gotra is the lineage or clan assigned to a Hindu at birth. In most cases, the sy
stem is
patrilineal and the gotra assigned is that of the person's father. This is becau
se after marriage
the women become the part of the gotra of their husband. Marriages within the go
tra
("swagotra" marriages) are banned under the rule of exogamy in the traditional m
atrimonial
system. People within the gotra are regarded as kin and marrying such a person i
s regarded
as incest. There have numerous cases on caste panchayat forcing divorce, lynchin
g, taking
away of the child, issuing a diktat, public humiliation, social boycott, raping,
shaving of head,
stripping and paraded in the village, etc. But hardly any of these cases have be
en registered
by the police. The khap panchayat makes sure not leave any evidence or witness.
The fear of
being ostracised prevents the villagers from coming forward and reporting the in
cidents to the
authorities. "Females in the family mothers, mothers-in-law, sisters, and cousins
couple, stripping and parading of the girl in the village, revenge rape and othe
r forms of
violence. Those who support the couple could also face punishment6 .
The Union Home Minister, Shri P.Chidambaram in response to a Calling Attention N
otice
regarding increasing incidents of so-called honour killings and honour-related c
rimes in the
country and the role of self-proclaimed panchayats therein made the following st
atement in
the Rajya Sabha:
Honour crimes are acts of violence, usually murder, mostly committed by family me
mbers
predominantly against female relatives, who are perceived to have brought dishon
our upon
the family. Honour killings are rooted in antiquated traditions and social value
s. Since
honour killing is not a crime classified separately under the Indian laws, no data
is collected
separately regarding this crime by the National Crime Records Bureau, and the sa
me is
covered under murder . Moreover, it is difficult to identify or classify an honour
killing as
such in any given community, since the reasons for such killings often remain a
closely
guarded private family matter. There is no separate law to deal with the crime o
f honour
killing , and such crimes are dealt with under the provisions of the Indian Penal
Code and are
investigated and prosecuted as offences under the IPC/Cr. P.C. Police and Public Or
der
are State subjects under the Constitution. The responsibility for dealing with e
nforcement of
the laws pertaining to these two subjects, including prevention, registration, d
etection,
investigation, prosecution and punishment of crimes against women, lies with Sta
te
Governments. 7 This report will primarily focus on the north Indian states of U.P.
, Haryana,
Punjab and Rajasthan.
frequently support the attacks. It's a community mentality," said Zaynab Nawaz,
a program
assistant for women's human rights at Amnesty International.5
In Muzaffarnagar district of UP, notorious for such violence, two young persons
were, on an
average, killed every month for inter-caste relationships in the first six month
s of 2003 and 35
couples were declared "missing". It is estimated that around 10 per cent of all
murders in
Punjab and Haryana are honour crimes. The violence includes public lynching of the

5 Retrieved from www.news.nationalgeographic.com, Thousands of women killed for f

amily honor on
11/04/2011.
6 The Times of India, 14 April 2004.
7 Retrieved from www.indialawyers.wordpress.com, HOME MINISTER S STATEMENT IN THE
RAJYA
SABHA ON HONOUR CRIMES, 28/07/2009 on 12/04/2011.
5
Reasons/ Types:
The major causes for honour killings in India are:

2.1 Honour killings for choosing a marriage partner

Family members in almost all villages of Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Raja
sthan
believe it to be against the societal norms if the female member of the family c
hooses her
own spouse. They take this independence of the woman as a stain on their family
honour.
2.2 Honour killings of women seeking divorce
Women are also killed in the name of honour when they seek a divorce through a
unsuccessful marriage. In most villages people take it a matter of great shame i
f a couple has
to seek a divorce and thus, the image of the family goes down in the society.
2.3 Honour killings with those who were raped
When a woman has been raped she has already gone through turmoil and to make thi
ngs
worse she is killed either by her family or her community. It is considered a wr
ong on the part
of the woman who got rape as it is considered that she should have known her pla
ce and
shouldn t had come between men.
2.4 Fake honour killings because of bringing insufficient dowry
Dowry is basically the money and property brought by the woman to her husband at
marriage. Dowry system is another social evil which is much in practice. When a
poor family
of the girl is unable to pay the high demands of dowry by her in-laws, she is ri
diculed and
sometimes killed in the name of honour. Dowry is considered a tradition, failing
to abide by
which, leads to discrimination.
2.5 Honour killing for reporting domestic violence
Women who report domestic violence to any authority are killed in the name honou
r. This is
because women are expected to bear with whatever humiliation the in-laws cause h
er silently.
2.6 Killed for saving honour after death of husband
After death of the husband, families kill women because they feel that the famil
y honour will
be tarnished when she will remarry someone else.
2. Honour Killings by Khap Panchayats
In the Hoshiarpur district of Punjab another case of brutal honour killing was r
eported in
2004. Geeta, a young Rajput woman married had married Jasveer a man from Jat Sik
h
community. Her husband was killed by her community two months after her marriage
, his
arms chopped off and thrown into his home as a gruesome message that caste-defin
ed
laksman rekhas are not to be broken. But at least she survives. In addition, in
the last few
There have been cases where police intervention was not much help either. In one
of the
cases the villagers lynched a man for marrying a girl of the same gotra as his o
wn. Ved Pal
was lynched by residents of his wife's village, Singhwal, near this town of Hary
ana's Jind
district, 160 km from Chandigarh. Although there were policemen accompanying the
victim
and the court warrant officer, but the villagers surrounded the victim, who trie
d to escape, and
lynched him. Ved Pal had married Sonia, 18, in March this year against the wishe
s of her
family. Her family and villagers opposed the marriage saying that both belonged
to the same
'gotra' (clan) and were hence brother and sister.8
In another case the khap panchayat went to the extent of abducting the baby from
the married
couple and were told to forsake their marriage vows and regard each other as bro
ther and
sister. In the mean while the baby was given to two families in the space of a f
ew days to
prevent its parents from learning about its whereabouts and claiming their child
. The
panchayat head said that the marriage was illegal and was against the social nor
ms. The
husband's family had also been fined Rs 65,000 for violating social norms and tr
aditions,
adding that the money would be used to bring up the child. And from the illegal
to the absurd,
the wife was forced to tie a rakhi -a thread symbolising the bond between brothe
r and sister -
to her husband, accepting him as her brother.9
8
Retrieved from www.indianexpress.com, Till Khap Panchayats do them part on 13/03/2
011.
9 Retrieved from www.infochangeindia.org, Haryana caste panchayat separates coupl
e, abducts baby on
13/03/2011.
7
undergoing treatment. The victims were living under the threat of the khap panch
ayat and the
district administration was not able to provide appropriate protection to them.1
1
In similar incident in Agra, a nineteen year old girl, Gudiya along with her phy
sically
challenged lover Mahesh were brought back to the village after two days of escap
e and were
hacked to death. There body parts were burnt and thrown in a drain. Their crime
was they
married against the social norms. The village elders had declared their marriage
incest and
had asked them to put an end to it.12
Nineteen-year-old Poonam was thrown into a canal by her Jat relatives in January
this year,
for marrying a Dalit boy. Fortunately, Poonam was rescued. In August last year,
24-year-old
Ramesh was tied to a tractor and dragged around a village in Gujarat, before bei
ng hacked to
death all because he eloped with a girl from his neighbourhood. Honour killing i
s a step
resorted to in some Muslim countries too.13
In a conference/consultation hosted by AIDWA on the caste panchayat issue in New
Delhi,
chaired by Brinda Karat and Jagmati Sangwan many people who had been victimised
by the
inhumane caste panchayat narrated their versions of suffering. Rohtas Kumar from
Jhajjar in
Haryana. Rohtas Kumar, a Dalit, explained how his community was ostracised and
humiliated by upper-caste Jats after two Jat girls eloped with a Dalit youth. He
said that
though it was clear to everyone that the girls had eloped on their own, a case o
f kidnapping
was registered. The village remained tense as the caste panchayat of Jats announ
ced a public
years the spread of the politics of religious intolerance has been reflected in
violence against
own choice marriages when the couples belong to different religious communities.
10
In another incident, the Kadyan Barha k hap panchayat asked Ravinder Gehlout of
Dharan
village in Jind district to divorce Shilpa Kadyan as their marriage was in viola
tion of social
norms. When the bride s parents rejected this verdict, the panchayat issued a dikt
at to the
family to leave the village within 72 hours. Later Ravinder attempted suicide an
d is now
boycott of Dalits. Essential supplies were denied to Dalits and they were preven
ted from
10
Retrieved from www.sacw.net, India: Price of Honour -Caste Panchayats as Instrum
ents of Terror on
13/03/2011.
11 Retrieved from www.thehindu.com, NHRC notice to Haryana over caste panchayats
 on 13/03/2011.
12 Retrieved from www.europe-solidaire.org, Caste Panchayats Getting Away With M
urder, 13/01/2011.
13 Retrieved from www.ibnlive.in.com, Honour crimes not uncommon in India on 15/
01/2011.
8
girl was forced to consume poison after being denied the right to get married to
a boy of her
choice. The boy, on the other hand, left the village along with his family, fear
ing reprisal.
Raj Narayan, from Bhawanipur district in Uttar Pradesh, narrated how his brother
's wife was
gang-raped and burnt to death by influential people belonging to the Yadav commu
nity of the
same village, in a case of revenge. Her crime was that her son had eloped with t
he wife of one
of the Yadavs. Raj Narayan, who belongs to the barber community, said that the Y
adavs
forced all the male members of the family to search for the couple and then in t
heir absence
assaulted his sister-in-law, Sia Dulaari. Since her house was locked from outsid
e, the Yadavs,
who shared a common wall, scaled it at night and raped her. Despite being told a
bout Sia
Dulaari's plight, the Station House Officer refused to do anything, he alleged.
Zareena,
secretary of AIDWA's Uttar Pradesh unit, said that while such incidents occurred
in various
parts of the State, Muzaffarnagar district accounted for the majority of them. S
he said that
revenge rape, public killing and lynching were prevalent and several murders pas
sed off as
suicides.14
In another case in Haryana, in the village of Assanda, the village panchayat iss
ued a Diktat
declaring that the two should annul their marriage and declare themselves brothe
r and sister.
The village panchayat made Rampal, the husband, sign an agreement to this effect
after
threatening him and his family with dire consequences if he refused to accept th
e panchayat's
decision.
Rampal has told the media that he was forced to sign the divorce papers and acce
pt Sonia as
his sister by Naresh Sharma, sarpanch of a neighbouring village, and his associa
tes. The
sarpanch, who led the group to Sonia and Rampal's house, told them about the 'pa
nchayat's
fatwa' and threatened to kill Rampal and his family if he did not comply with th
e decision.
14 Retrieved from www.islamawareness.net, Murder for `honour' on 16/04/2011.
9
drawing water from the village well. Rohtas Kumar, who opposed such measures, wa
s
publicly flogged and had to pay a fine. "It was a choice between getting killed
and facing
humiliation," he said. More important, the girls who returned to the village die
d in suspicious
circumstances. Prolonged harassment forced two Dalits, one woman and one elderly
person,
to commit suicide.
From Badali Meham village in Rohtak district, Haryana, Kulbhushan Arya narrated
how a
"Since the threats were severe, my relatives also compelled me to accept the dec
ision in the
interests of the community," Rampal says. When Sonia refused to accept the situa
tion,
Rampal's sister Sheila was abused and manhandled by the sarpanch.
No action has been taken against the guilty, nor has a case been registered agai
nst them, says
Brinda Karat, general secretary of the AIDWA. The association hopes the NHRC's
intervention will lead to measures to stop "unacceptable" decisions by caste pan
chayats and
eventually result in legislation to deal with such crimes.15
The following table has been formulated by the Peoples Union for Democratic Righ
ts
(PUDR), a civil liberties and democratic rights organisation based in Delhi, Ind
ia.16 The table
shows the number of incidents where the illegal caste panchayat has intervened i
n the
enjoyment of rights of the people and gone against the law.
15 Retrieved from www. infochangeindia.org, Women's group seeks NHRC interventio
n on caste panchayat
decisions on 18/04/2011.
16 COURTING DISASTERS , A report on Inter-caste marriages, society and state, Peopl
e s Union for
Democratic Rights (PUDR), August 2003.
11
One can easily see the failure of implementation by the regulating authority. Th
e police have
11
PRICE FOR LOVE
Date Place Girl's
Caste
Boy's
Caste
Fate of Couple Action Taken
10.99 Ismaila Village,
Rohtak,
Haryana
Jat Lohar Killed by girl's
family. Joined by
the Lohars.
Rohtak Balmiki
(Post-
Graduate)
Jogi Eloped to Sonipat to
marry in
court. CM informed
girl's
parents. Couple's
lawyer forced
to withdraw
application.
Threatened with
case of
abduction.
11.1999 Chandigarh,
Punjab.
(Hailed from
Jandiala
Village, near
Amritsar.)
Jat Sikh Balmiki
Sikh
Boy shot dead by
girl's brother &
girl swallowed
poison.
Girl's brother
arrested.
5.2000 Hardoi dist., UP Upper
caste
Dalit Girl's family killed
four
members of boy's
family.
3.2001 Muzzafarrnagar,
UP
Kureishi
(doctor
Pathan Girl hacked to death
& boy shot
dead by girl's
brother.
Girl's brother
surrendered.
4.2001 Tarn-Taran,
Amritsar,
Punjab
Jat Sikh Dalit Couple committed
suicide by
swallowing poison.
6.2001 Bharatpur,
Rajasthan
Gumbar Jat Suicide by
swallowing poison
8.2001 Alinagar Village,
Muzzafarnagar, UP
Jat Brahmin Hanged to death by
both
families.
7 arrested
7.2002 Talao Village,
Jhajjar,
Jat Dalit Girl committed
suicide. Boy in jail
Magisterial
inquiry
PRICE FOR LOVE
Date Place Girl's
Caste
Boy's
Caste
Fate of Couple Action Taken
10.99 Ismaila Village,
Rohtak,
Haryana
Jat Lohar Killed by girl's
family. Joined by
the Lohars.
Rohtak Balmiki
(Post-
Graduate)
Jogi Eloped to Sonipat to
marry in
court. CM informed
girl's
parents. Couple's
lawyer forced
to withdraw
application.
Threatened with
case of
abduction.
11.1999 Chandigarh,
Punjab.
(Hailed from
Jandiala
Village, near
Amritsar.)
Jat Sikh Balmiki
Sikh
Boy shot dead by
girl's brother &
girl swallowed
poison.
Girl's brother
arrested.
5.2000 Hardoi dist., UP Upper
caste
Dalit Girl's family killed
four
members of boy's
family.
3.2001 Muzzafarrnagar,
UP
Kureishi
(doctor
Pathan Girl hacked to death
& boy shot
dead by girl's
brother.
Girl's brother
surrendered.
4.2001 Tarn-Taran,
Amritsar,
Punjab
Jat Sikh Dalit Couple committed
suicide by
swallowing poison.
6.2001 Bharatpur,
Rajasthan
Gumbar Jat Suicide by
swallowing poison
8.2001 Alinagar Village,
Muzzafarnagar, UP
Jat Brahmin Hanged to death by
both
families.
7 arrested
7.2002 Talao Village,
Jhajjar,
Jat Dalit Girl committed
suicide. Boy in jail
Magisterial
inquiry
Like in the case of Ved Pal, who had gone back to his in-laws place to collect h
is wife,
despite there were at least 15 policemen accompanying the victim and the court w
arrant
officer but the villagers surrounded the victim, who tried to escape, and lynche
d him. The
accompanying policemen fled from the spot with the court officer.17
In another case there were more than 500 policemen protecting a dozen members of
the
Gehlawat family in Dhrana village of Jhajjar district. They were being shielded
against their
own neighbours, who had asked them to leave the village, as their son Ravinder h
ad dared
to marry a girl of his own gotra. Despite the presence of a huge police continge
nt and regular
assurances from the district administration, the family was still jittery. A 72
hour deadline had
been given to the family to leave the village.18
17 Retrieved from www.timesofindia.com, Haryana youth beaten to death for marryi
ng girl of same clan,
19/04/2011.
18 Retrieved from www.indianexpress.com, Haryana panchayat takes on govt over sa
me-gotra marriage on
19/04/2011.
CHAPTER-3
LAWS BEING VIOLATED
Special marriage act, 1954
The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993
19 Article-21, Constitution of India
20 Article-15, Constitution of India
21 Article-14, Constitution of India
The caste panchayat or the Khap panchayat are the non-constitutional bodies who
are
working as parallel judicial authority against the welfare of the people and in
turn are doing a
great harm to the nation.
It violates the following Indian laws:
Rights to Freedom, Right to equality, Right against Discrimination on the basis
of caste,
colour, sex and creed.
The Constitution of India provides No person shall be deprived of his life or per
sonal liberty
except according to procedure established by law. 19 It also provides against the
discrimination on the basis of on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place
of birth.20The
constitution also gives the equality before law21 as a fundamental right to its
people.
Indian majority act, 1875 (Section-3)
In cases where the Khap panchayat has forcefully separated a married couple who
are of
eligible age to get married, amongst others it is a violation of the provisions
under this act.
Hindu marriage act, 1955
The actions of the Khap panchayat are a complete violation of human rights. For
this purpose
this act was formulated in 1993 so as to give relief to the victims of such viol
ations. But it has
not been much of help in removing the grievances of the victim.
1.
Case Law
There have been only few cases where the victim(s) or their family came forward
and filed a
case in the courts. The reasons for this can be numerous. One can say that the l
ack of
education among people or maybe the lacking of knowledge of their basic rights.
In some
newspaper reports people have said that they are scared of being boycotted and r
idiculed by
the villagers in case they went up front and reported such incidents. In one of
the cases filed
Lata Singh vs. State of U.P. and Ors. the petitioner, Lata Singh, married off he
r own free will
but this was unacceptable by her brother and other family members. Therefore the
y filed a
false case of criminal kidnapping against the petitioner s husband and family. But
the high
court filed a writ petition and the petition was allowed. There has been a Publi
c Interest
Litigation filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court by Advocate Tejinder Singh
Sudan
from Lawyers for Human Rights International (Regd.) asking for the issuance of w
rit
Mandamus or any other writ, order or directions so that the decisions of the Kha
p panchayat
of Haryana, which are against the spirit of the Constitution of India and that t
he case of
lynching of Ved Pal Mor resident of village Mataur of Kaithal district be ordere
d to be
investigated by a Special team headed by a Senior IPS officer and that the inves
tigation be
supervised by the Hon ble high court.
CHAPTER-4

HONOUR KILLING IN THE GLOBAL CONTEXT

Honour killing, an ancient tradition, is still being sometimes observed. Honour
killing is when
a male member of the family kills a female relative for tarnishing the family im
age.22
1.United Nations: Looking at it from the international perspective The United Na
tions
Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates that the annual worldwide total of honour-kill
ing
victims may be as high as 5,00023 .
1.1Jordan: Kifaya, a Jordanian girl of 12, was intelligent and full of curiosity
.
But when she returned home one evening from a walk in the neighbourhood with
some friends, she was confronted by her enraged father. Shouting that she had
dishonoured the entire family, her father proceeded to beat Kifaya with sticks a
nd iron
chains until she was dead. He told police he killed his only daughter because sh
e went
for walks without his permission.
About the same time, Hanan, 34, was shot dead by her brother for the "crime" of
marrying a Christian. Her brother left her body in the street and smoked a cigar
ette
while he waited for the police to arrive. Every year between 25 and 50 women and
girls are the victims of "honour" killings in Jordan.24
1.2Turkey: In turkey a new trend has emerged. Instead of the family members
killing the female for bring dishonour upon the family reputation, they simply
pressurise woman to kill herself; this may be done so that the people avoid pena
lties
for murdering her. For Derya, a waiflike girl of 17, the order to kill herself c
ame from
22Retrieved from www.wordwebonline.com on 27/04/2010.
23 Retrieved from www.unfpa.org, A Human Rights and Health Priority. United Nati
ons Population
Fund(UNFPA) on 27/04/2011.
24 Retrieved from www.unfpa.org, A Human Rights and Health Priority, Box 20: Two
'Honour' Killings in
Jordan, Halaby, J. 20 March 2000. "Two Women, One Girl Slain in Honour Crimes in
Jordan." Associated
Press. United Nations Population Fund(UNFPA) on 27/04/2011.
an uncle and was delivered in a text message to her cell phone. You have blackene
d
our name, it read. Kill yourself and clean our shame or we will kill you first. As
the number of threat messages kept on increasing she was consumed by shame and
fearing for her life, she said, she decided to carry out her family s wishes. Firs
t, she
said, she jumped into the Tigris River, but she survived. Next she tried hanging
herself, but an uncle cut her down. Then she slashed her wrists with a kitchen k
nife.
Every few weeks in Batman and the surrounding area in southeast Anatolia, which
is
poor, rural and deeply influenced by conservative Islam, a young woman tries to
take
her life. Others have been stoned to death, strangled, shot or buried alive. The
ir
offenses ranged from stealing a glance at a boy to wearing a short skirt, wantin
g to go
to the movies, being raped by a stranger or relative or having consensual sex. H
oping
to join the European Union, Turkey has tightened the punishment for attacks on
women and girls who have had such experiences.25
1.3Germany: In 2005 Der Spiegel magazine reports that in the past four months,
six Muslim women living in Berlin have been brutally murdered by family members,
and goes on to cover the case of Hatun Src -killed by her brother for not staying
with her husband of forced marriage, but of 'living like a German'. Precise stat
istics on
how many women die every year in such honor killings are hard to come by, as man
y
crimes are never reported, said Myria Boehmecke of the Tuebingen-based women's
group Terre des Femmes which, among other things, tries to protect Muslim girls
and women from oppressive families. The Turkish women's organization Papatya
has documented 40 instances of honour killings in Germany since 1996.26 A 21-yea
r-
old man of Syrian origin was sentenced to 14 years behind bars Tuesday after a c
ourt
in Germany found him guilty of shooting dead his cousin in a so-called "honour
killing." The man, identified only as Ezzedin A., along with his 48-year-old unc
le,
shot the 20-year-old woman in a motorway lay-by in August, the court in Hagen,
western Germany, ruled. "The court found that the motive for the act was the wes
tern
lifestyle of the victim, which the rest of the family rejected and saw as a stai
n on their
honour," the court.27
25 Retrieved from www.nytimes.com, "How to Avoid Honor Killing in Turkey? Honor
Suicide". The New York
Times on 27/04/2011.
26
Retrieved from www.spiegel.de, "The Whore Lived Like a German". Der Spiegel, Ger
many on 27/04/2011
27
 Retrieved from www.vancouversun.com, Cousin jailed for 14 years for German 'hono
ur killing' on
27/04/2011.
16
1.4
Britain: According to a survey done on some odd 500 Sikhs, Christians,
Hindus, and Muslims in Britain a 10th said they would condone the murder of
someone who disrespected their family's honour. Figures show 13 people die every
year in honour killings, but police and support groups believe it is many more.2
8 Azhar
Nazir, 30, and his cousin, 17, used four knives to cut Samaira Nazir s throat and
repeatedly stab her after she fell in love with an asylum-seeker from what they
saw as
an unsuitable caste. Miss Nazir, 25, had rejected suitors lined up to meet her i
n
Pakistan and had been summoned to the family home in Southall, Middlesex. The
father, also called Azhar, Nazir and the youth launched the attack and at one po
int
dragged her by her hair back into the property.29
1.5Pakistan: In the neighbouring countries to India women have a similar fate.
According to the non-governmental Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP),
286 women were reported to have been killed for reasons of honour in 1998 in the
Punjab alone. The Special Task Force for Sindh of the HRCP received reports of 1
96
cases of karo-kari killings in Sindh in 1998, involving 255 deaths. The real num
ber of
such killings is vastly greater than those reported.30 In 2006, a 14-year-old Pa
kistani
girl was kidnapped and shot by her relatives who accused her of having sex with
a
young man. Perhaps, the most well known victim of an honour crime is Mukhtaran
Bibi, a Pakistani woman raped by the more influential tribesmen in her village.
It was
meant as payback because her 12-year-old brother was accused of raping an older
woman of the powerful clan, a charge that was never proved.31
1.6Saudi Arabia: The internet is among other things is another reason for honour
killings, especially in Saudi Arabia. The numbers of social networking sites wit
h easy
access have become a more of bait for women who avail from a comparatively
conservative background. In Saudi Arabia a young girl was beaten and shot by her
father because she was found chatting on facebook , a social networking website.32
In
another case A Saudi woman has been sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in
prison after she was the victim of a gang rape.
28 Retrieved from www.news.bbc.co.uk, 04/09/2006 on 07/01/2011.
29 Retrieved from www.timesonline.co.uk, Sister is stabbed to death for loving th
e wrong man
on 28/04/2011.

30 Retrieved from www.amnesty.org, PAKISTAN: HONOUR KILLINGS OF WOMEN AND GIRLS o

n
28/04/2011
31 Retrieved from www.ibnlive.in.com, Honour crimes not uncommon in India, 29/04
/2011.
32 Retrieved from www.telegraph.co.uk, Saudi woman killed for chatting on Faceboo
k on 29/04/2011.
The sentence against the 19-year-old Shia woman from Qatif, in the Eastern Provi
nce of
the country, was passed because she was in the car of a man who was not a relati
ve at the
time of the attack, which contravened strict Saudi laws on segregation.33
2. Violation from International Perspective
2.1 Universal declaration of Human Rights
This declaration has given certain rights to the people all over the world. The
acts of the caste
panchayat are a violation of the Article-134 which states that All human beings
are born free
and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and
should act
towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood, Article-235 Everyone is entitled
to all the rights
and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, suc
h as race,
colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social
origin, property,
birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of
the political,
jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a pe
rson belongs,
whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitati
on of
sovereignty, Article-336 Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of
person, Ariticle-
537 No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treat
ment or
punishment, Article-638 Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a pe
rson before
the law and Article-739 Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a pe
rson before
the law.
2.2 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination (CERD)
The cases where the caste panchayat have intervened and made void the marriage o
f any
couple who willing went into wedlock are the violation Article-5, Clause (b)40 T
he right to
security of person and protection by the State against violence or bodily harm,
whether
33 Retrieved from www.telegraph.co.uk, 200 lashes for Saudi gang rape victim on 30
/04/2011.
34 Retrieved from www.un.org on 23/04/2011.
35 Retrieved from www.un.org on 23/04/2011.
36 Retrieved from www.un.org on 23/04/2011.
37 Retrieved from www.un.org on 23/04/2011.
38 Retrieved from www.un.org on 23/04/2011.
39 Retrieved from www.un.org on 23/04/2011.
40 Retrieved from www.2.ohchr.org on 24/04/2011.
inflicted by government officials or by any individual group or institution and
Clause (d)
(iv)41 The right to marriage and choice of spouse.
2.3 Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women
(CEDAW)
Article-16 Clause (1) Sub-clause (a)42 The same right to enter into marriage, (b
)43 The same
right freely to choose a spouse and to enter into marriage only with their free
and full consent
are being violated by the illegal decisions of Khap panchayat.
2.4 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
Article-23 Clause (1)44 The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of
society and is
entitled to protection by society and the State, (2)45 The right of men and wome
n
of
marriageable age to marry and to found a family shall be recognized, (3)46 No ma
rriage shall
be entered into without the free and full consent of the intending spouses, are
also violated by
the Khap Panchayat s illegal speedy justice.
CHAPTER-5
CONCLUSION
41 Retrieved from www.2.ohchr.org on 24/04/2011.
42 Retrieved from www.2.ohchr.org on 24/04/2011.
43 Retrieved from www.2.ohchr.org on 24/04/2011.
44 Retrieved from www.2.ohchr.org on 25/04/2011.
45 Retrieved from www.2.ohchr.org on 25/04/2011.
46 Retrieved from www.2.ohchr.org on 25/04/2011.
Although all of these reasons exist, in the 4 states of Haryana, Punjab, Uttar P
radesh,
Rajasthan honour killings often take place due to specific reasons. Majority of
the honour
killings are committed for the reason of marriage, especially marriages against
the societal
norms. In these states the reason for many recent killings is the intra-gotra ma
rriages or inter-
caste marriages. There is an unrecognised, self proclaimed decision making entit
y at par to
the village panchayat called the case panchayat or the Khap panchayat which is s
anctioning
these killings in the name of honour. A caste panchayat is a self-proclaimed bod
y consisting
of village elders or the elite," explains AIDWA general secretary Brinda Karat.
"Women are
excluded from the body," she says. The Union Home Minister Shri P.Chidambaram in
the
Rajya Sabha said that the Government of India is deeply concerned about violence
against
women and recognizes that real progress can only be made by addressing the cause
s that are
rooted in anachronistic attitudes and false values. More efforts need to be made
through
educational and awareness campaigns in the communities and through sensitization
of law
enforcement agencies. He further enunciated on the previous steps taken by the g
overnment
to curb violence against women like the Domestic violence Act, which had been en
acted in
2005. He proposed to:
1. sensitize police officials charged with the responsibility of protecting wome
n;
2. Vigorously enforce the existing legislations;
3. Set up women police cells in police stations and exclusive women police stati
ons;
4. provide institutional support to the victims of violence;
5. Provide counselling to victims of rape;
6. ensure wider recruitment of women police officers;
7. Train police personnel in special laws dealing with atrocities against women;
8. Appoint Dowry Prohibition Officers and notify Rules under the Dowry Prohibiti
on Act,
1961;
9. Sensitize the judiciary and police and civil administration on gender issues;
and
10. Follow up reports of cases of atrocities against women received from various
sources,
including NCW, with authorities concerned in the Central and the State Governmen
ts.
He further welcomed a nationwide consultation and discuss on how to prevent such
crimes.47
Much has been written and said about the issue of Khap Panchayats by intellectuals
and
academician but there has always been a lack of any initiative to dissolve Khap P
anchayats
or call these illegal on the part of Government. Not even a single leader has ev
er stood against
(forget about the standing against this system, many local leaders of congress a
nd other
parties have glorified acts of Khap Panchayat ) this cruel system, which may be bec
ause of
Government s own petty political reasons. Another thing, why all these killings ar
e clubbed
together in the list of murders , if we can have separate laws for Sati and Dowry then
why
can t we have separate special laws to handle these Khap Panchayats ?
There is a strong need of active participation of everyone including NGOs, polic
e, Panchayat
bodies and serious/strong laws (not merely paper tigers!) against the crimes of K
hap
Panchayat .
47 Retrieved from www.indialawyers.wordpress.com, HOME MINISTER S STATEMENT IN THE
RAJYA
SABHA ON HONOUR CRIMES on 12/04/2011.