Human Rights
Honour Killing: Honourable or a licence to kill?
By Sagarika Chandel, KIIT School Of Law, Bhubaneswar.
November 15th 2014, a final year student from a reputed college of Delhi University strangulated to death by her parents for marrying a youth of a different caste. November 29th 2014, an eight months pregnant teenager strangulated to death by her brothers and thrown into a canal in Meerut. September 18th 2013, a girl was lynched by her own family and her paramour beheaded publicly by the girl’s parents and uncle as “no regrets” was said by the remorseless father of the deceased victim. April 2012, a 26 year old teacher was killed by her mother, brother and uncle as she wished to marry a boy belonging to a different religion and a lower caste. In June 2007, six men murdered a newly-wed couple for marrying outside their ‘gotra’ in Haryana after the village elders accused the couple of violating the code of conduct relating to marriage.
The above mentioned cases, shamefully, do not even account for a handful of the total cases of honour killing in India. More than 1000 young individuals in India are condoned to death every year owing to ‘Honour Killings’. (more…)