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Study on Honor Killing as a Crime in India-Cause and Solutions

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Study on Honor Killing as a Crime in India-Cause and Solutions
Seied Beniamin Hosseini*, C Basavaraju**
Abstract
The article aims at highlighting the legal provisions to tackle crime of honor killing. The
introductory part gives a side glance of what is honor killing and which acts are considered
dishonorable by the community or family. Certain behavior of individuals and acts may
become reasons for him or her to be killed by his or her own family, especially by male family
members or the community. The next part describes various legal provisions in the Indian
Constitution, which can be used to put a stop to these honor killings in the country. These
laws can be used as a tool to put behind bars the Khap Panchayat members who give orders
of killing individuals for honor’s sake. The next part defines the international provisions
related to the honor crimes to which India is a signatory member. The paper questions as to
why despite all these provisions killings are rampant in the present times.

Keywords: Crime, Honor killings, Rights, Law, International provisions.

“Violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and
women, which have led to domination over and discrimination against women by men to the prevention
of the full advancement of women….”

(The United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women)4

Introduction marriage offences. These offences, which are

The barbarism carries the name of honor killing. An
honor killing is the homicide of a member of a family by
other members, due to the perpetrators having the
belief that the victim violated the principles of a
community or a religion the victim has brought shame
or dishonor upon the family.14 The concept of women as
property and honor is deeply entrenched in the social,
political and economic environment in South Asian
countries, Muslim countries and India. In most of the
countries, data on honor killings is not collected
systematically,15 and many of these killings are reported
and registered by the families as suicides or accidents.
In 2000, the United Nations estimated 5000 women
were victims of honor killings each year in India and
more than 20,000 women were killed worldwide each
year.16
“Honor killings can also be described as extra-judicial
punishment of a female relative for assumed sexual and
considered as a misdeed or insult, include sexual
faithlessness, marrying without the will of parents or
having a relationship that the family considers to be
inappropriate and rebelling against the tribal and social
matrimonial customs.2 These acts of killing women are
justified on the basis that the offence has brought
dishonor and shame to family or tribe” (Amnesty
International 1999).1 Another report says that “the
regime of honor is unforgiving: women on whom
suspicion has fallen are not given an opportunity to
defend themselves, and family members have no
socially acceptable alternative but to remove the stain
on their honor by attacking the woman” (Amnesty
International 2001).2 Honor killings elucidate that the
custom is not related to a feudal societal arrangement.
“There are also perpetrators who are well educated
university graduates. Of all those surveyed, 60 percent
are either high school or university graduates or at the
very least literate” as per a study by Dicle University
(Gazer 2001).5

*
BA, L.L.B, PG Student in MBA, BIMS, University of Mysore.
**
Professor and Dean, Department of Studies in Law.
Correspondence to: Mr Seied Beniamin Hosseini, BA, L.L.B, PG Student in MBA. E-mail Id: beniamin_1@live.com

© ADR Journals 2016. All Rights Reserved.

Int. J. Preven. Curat. Comm. Med. 2016; 2(1)
Causes and Methods of Honor Killings in India
There are multiple causes for which honor killings occur,
and numerous factors interact with one another such
as:
 Dressing in ways or in manner which are deemed
inappropriate and unacceptable to the family or
community.
 Wanting to terminate or refusing to enter an
arranged marriage or desiring to marry by own
choice; refusing an arranged marriage is often a
cause of an honor killing. The family, which has
prearranged the marriage, risks disgrace if the
marriage does not proceed.17 There are many cases
related to this matter even in recent years such as,
honor killing claimed a 21-years old Delhi girl, when
her parents strangled her to death after claiming
she destroyed their family’s prestige by marrying a
man from a different caste on November 2014; or a
girl stoned by her father and brother because of her
compromising position with a boy of another
community in January 2015 and many other similar
cases.
 Seeking a divorce: A woman attempting to obtain a
divorce or separation without the consent of the
husband. Extended family can also be a trigger for
honor killings. In cultures where marriages are
arranged and goods are often exchanged between
families, a woman’s desire to seek a divorce is often
viewed as an insult to the men who negotiated the
deal.18 By making their marital problems known
outside the family, the women are seen as exposing
the family to public dishonor.19
 Allegation and rumors about family members, in
certain cultures: Anallegationagainst a woman can
be enough to tarnish her family's reputation, and to
trigger an honor killing, the family’s fear of being
ostracized by the community is enormous.20
 Becoming the victim ofrape: In many cultures,
victims of rape face severe violence, including
honor killings from their families and relatives. In
many parts of the world, women who have been
raped are considered to have brought “dishonor” or
“disgrace” to their families. This is especially the
case if the victim becomespregnant.21 Central to the
code of honor, in many societies, is a
woman’svirginity, which must be preserved until
marriage.22 Suzanne Ruggi writes, “A woman’s
virginity is the property of the men around her, first
her father, later a gift for her husband; a virtual
dowry as she graduates to marriage.”23
 Engaging in heterosexual acts outside marriage, or
even due to a non-sexual relationship perceived as
disapproved by their family.
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MYSINTCON-2015: Special Issue
 Engaging in homosexual acts or relation in which
the women and girls are killed at much higher rate
than men. There is evidence that homosexualitycan
also be perceived as ground for honor killing by
relatives. It is not only same-sex sexual acts that
trigger violence-behaviors that are regarded as
inappropriate gender expression for example when
a male acting or dressing in a “feminine way,” can
also raise suspicion and lead to honor violence.24 In
one case, a gayJordanianman was shot and
wounded by his brother.25 In another case, in 2008,
a homosexual Turkishstudent, Ahmet Yildiz, was
shot outside a cafe and he later died in the hospital.
Sociologists have called this Turkey’s first publicized
gay honor killing.26 In 2012, a 17-year-old gay youth
was murdered by his father in Turkey in the
southeastern province of Diyarbakir.27 United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees states that
“claims made byLGBTpersons often reveal exposure
to physical and sexual violence, extended periods of
detention, medical abuse, threat of execution and
honor killing.”28 Honor killing has different types.
Only murder is not the form of honor crime; the
methods of honor killing include stoning, stabbing,
beating, burning, beheading, hanging, throat
slashing, lethal acid attacks, shooting and
strangulation and forced suicide as a substitute. 29,30
Protection of Victims of Honor Killing under
Constitutional Provisions
The Constitution of India has great provisions which
allow an individual to exercise his/her choice
independent of caste, religion or gender and protection
from honor-related crimes including honor killings.
Following are those Constitutional provisions that
substantiate this: honor killings are cases of homicide
and murder which are grave crimes under the Indian
Penal Code (IPC). Section 299 and 301 of the IPC deal
with culpable homicide not amounting to murder while
Section 300 deals with murder.
Honor killing amounts to homicide and murder because
the acts are done with the intention of murdering the
victims as they have purportedly brought dishonor upon
the family. The perpetrators can be punished as per
Section 302 of the IPC. The Khap Panchayats or family
members can also be booked under Section 302 of IPC
for instigating to suicide those who violate the norms of
the community. Such killings also violate Articles 14,
15(1) and (3), 17, 18, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of
India. Article 14 of the Indian Constitution guarantees to
every person the right to equality before the law or the
equal protection of the laws. Every person, whatever is
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MYSINTCON-2015: Special Issue
his or her status or situation, is subject to the
jurisdiction of the ordinary courts. This right to equality
is thus documented as one of the fundamental features
of the Indian Constitution. Honor killings are thus
hideously against this very Constitutional right provided
for the protection of Indian citizens. Honor killings are
mainly directed toward women and thus give rise to
gender violence.
Honor killings involve the murder of a particular person
especially a woman and thus come under the ambit of
Section 299 and Section 300 of the Indian Penal Code. It
is also violation of Article 19 and Article 21 of the
Constitution. Such brutal murders, under the garb of
saving the honor of the family, are clearly against the
Constitutional provisions enshrined in Article 21. Khap
Panchayats violate a person’s fundamental right to life
as they kill or instigate murder, in the name of honor.
Every person has a right to live. The capital punishment
is possible only when granted by law. In cases where the
Khap Panchayats have compellingly separated married
couples who are of eligible age to get married, these
have violated the provisions of the Indian Constitution.
The Indian Majority Act, Section-3, 1857,9 states that
every person domiciled in India shall attain the age of
majority on completion of 18 years and not before.
Unless a particular personal law specifies otherwise,
every person domiciled in India is deemed to have
attained majority upon completion of 18 years of age.
However, in the case of a minor for whose person or
property, or both, a guardian has been appointed or
declared by any court of justice before the age of 18
years, and in case of every minor the superintendence
of whose property has been alleged by the Court of
Wards, age of majority will be 21 years and not 18. The
Act is relevant in cases where Khap Panchayats have
forcibly separated married couples who are of eligible
age to get married. It is a violation of the provisions
under this Act. The main reason behind the enactment
of the Special Marriage Act, 1954,13 was to provide a
special form of marriage for the people of India and all
Indians residing in foreign countries, irrespective of the
religion or faith followed by either party, to perform the
intended marriage. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989,11 was
enacted by the Parliament of India, in order to avert
atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes. The intention of the Act was to help the social
inclusion of Dalits into Indian society. It defines acts
such as forcing an SC/ ST to eat or drink any inedible or
obnoxious substance, removing clothes, parading naked
or with painted face or body, assaulting, dishonoring
and outraging the modesty of an SC/ ST woman, sexual
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Int. J. Preven. Curat. Comm. Med. 2016; 2(1)
exploitation of an SC/ ST woman, forcing an SC/ ST to
leave his or her house or village as punishable. The Act
is linked to honor killings because numerous incidents of
honor killing are in relation to caste and religion. The
Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Act, 2006,
makes the provision for protection of individual rights of
human beings and the constitution of a National Human
Rights Commission, State Human Rights Commission
and Human Rights Courts for better protection of
human rights of individuals. The Protection of Women
from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, provides for more
effective protection of the rights of women guaranteed
under the Constitution who are victims of violence of
any kind occurring within the family and for matters
connected therewith or incidental thereto. For the
purposes of this Act, any act, omission or commission or
conduct of the respondent shall constitute domestic
violence in case it first, harms or injures or endangers
the health, safety, life, limb or well-being, whether
mental or physical, of the aggrieved person or tends to
do so and includes causing physical abuse, sexual abuse,
verbal and emotional abuse and economic abuse;
second, harasses, harms, injures or endangers the
aggrieved person with a view to coerce her or any other
person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for
any dowry or other property or valuable security; third,
has effect of threatening the aggrieved person or any
person related to her by any conduct mentioned in
clause (a) or clause (b); and the forth, otherwise injures
or causes harm, whether physical or mental, to the
aggrieved person.
Role and Significance of International Provisions
in Protection of Honor Killing Victims
India is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on
the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against
Women (CEDAW 1979) and has also ratified the
convention.3 The provisions of CEDAW can be used to
argue that the tradition and practice of punishing
individuals for ill-informed ideas of dishonoring the
family, is essentially institutionalized discrimination
against individuals and creates a legally binding
obligation for India, as a state party to the convention,
to take all measures to end all forms of the practice of
honor killing and ensure that all discrimination against
women in matters relating to marriage and family
relations is eliminated, providing them with equal right
to enter into marriage and to freely choose a spouse
and to enter into marriage with their free and full
consent as enumerated in Article 16 of the Indian
Constitution. This means ensuring that informal
decision-making bodies functioning on customary laws,
such as Khap Panchayats, are refrained from enforcing
92
Int. J. Preven. Curat. Comm. Med. 2016; 2(1)
their dictates, and be intrusive with the right of
individuals to choose their spouse. Noting that the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, (UDHR 1948)
affirms the principle of the inadmissibility of
discrimination and inequality and proclaims that all
individuals are born free and equal in dignity and rights
and freedom set forth therein, devoid of distinction of
any kind including distinction based on sex. Recalling
that prejudice and discrimination against women
violates the principle of equality of rights and respect of
human dignity is an obstacle to the participation of
women in the political, social economic and cultural life
and hampers the growth and prosperity of society and
the family. All crimes of honor, including honor killing,
are gross violation of the rights enumerated in the
declaration. Article 1 and 2 of the declaration state that
“all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and
rights,” and that “everyone is entitled to all the rights
and freedoms set forth in the declaration irrespective of
“sex.” Therefore, as enumerated in the declaration’s
Articles 3 and 5, women are entitled to enjoy the “right
to life, liberty and security of person” and also the “right
to be free from torture or cruel, inhuman and or
degrading treatment.” Crimes of honor violate Article 3
and 5 when the purpose of the perpetrator is to inflict
severe mental and physical pain on the woman. Under
Article 12 of the International Convention on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR 1976), state parties
have to take all steps to ensure the “right of everyone to
the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of
physical and mental health,” is ensured. Crimes of honor
that involve sexual violence and mental violence or
physical or mental torture obstruct the right of women
to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health. India,
as a state party, is therefore legally obligated to ensure
that individuals and victims of crimes of honor are able
to avail this right. While not legally binding on the state,
the human rights standards enumerated in paragraph
232 of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA 1995),
recognize that the “human rights of women include
their right to have control over and decide freely and
responsibly on matters relating to their sexuality,
including sexual and reproductive health, free of
coercion, discrimination and violence.” The Beijing
Platform for Action on Women’s Human Rights calls
upon states to “take urgent action to combat and
eliminate violence against women, which is a human
rights violation resulting from harmful traditional or
customary practices, cultural prejudices and
extremism.” Crimes of honor may involve the violation
or abuse of a number of human rights, which include
the right to life, liberty and security of the person; the
prohibition on torture or other cruel, inhuman, or
humiliating treatment or punishment; the ban on
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MYSINTCON-2015: Special Issue
slavery; the right to freedom from gender-based
discrimination; the right to privacy; the right to marry;
the right to be free from sexual abuse and exploitation;
the obligation to amend customs that discriminate
against women; and the right to an effective remedy. All
these mentioned above violate the Human Rights Act
(1998).7 Honor killings are a clear violation of human
rights and states necessarily need to protect individuals
from such violations. Two major UN documents call for
the “elimination” of honor killing. The concept of
elimination appears in the “Declaration on the
Elimination of Violence against Women” (1993) and in
“Working towards the Elimination of Crimes against
Women Committed in the Name of Honor” (2003). In
the words of the UN Declaration on the Elimination of
Violence against Women: “Violence against women is a
manifestation of historically unequal power relations
between men and women, which have led to
discrimination over and discrimination against women
by men and to the prevention of the full advancement
of women, and that violence against women is one of
the crucial social mechanisms by which women are
forced into a subordinate position compared with men.”
Conclusion
The eradication of honor killing requires a serious
intervention in the status quo. Equal gender relations
have not yet been achieved and violence still exists in
the name of honor. Therefore, it is the state’s and the
society’s responsibility to protect the human rights of its
citizens, to avoid honor killings, to create possibilities
and opportunities for the people concerned to break
free and to find protection, support and aid. It is to be
suggested that honor killing-like social evil cannot be
just eliminated through law alone10; rather almost every
substitution social, economic, political and cultural will
have to be sensitized against this crime; no doubt law
could only be one of the important tools to fight this
heinous practice. The usual remedies to fight such social
tragedy are required for immediate sensitization; police
officials, law enforcement agencies, setting up women
police stations for counseling women victims and civil
administrations. However, constitutional law and
international provisions fail to tackle this menace. It also
fails to give justification as to why such a crime is
rampant even in the contemporary times when there
are abundant provisions for the protection of
individuals. It is strange that even after the provisions of
CEDAW and various human rights provisions to
eliminate violence against women; individuals continue
to be the victims of murders in the name of honor.
While the murders are sometimes performed in public
to warn the other women within the community, the
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 MYSINTCON-2015: Special Issue
legal sanction definitely can play an important role in
curbing honor killings; since it is a sociological issue
alone it cannot stop such killings when it is deeply
rooted in mindset of the people as well as traditions.
The violence will only be reduced when these
patriarchal mindsets are challenged. Some kind of
change both in internal and external control method in
Indian society such as economic conditions and
stringent laws as well as the independent economic
status of women, and capable of taking her own
decisions can be helpful in reducing the number of this
age-old evil in India.
Conflict of Interest: None
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