Decade on, no end to honour killing menace in Haryana

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 26

More than a decade has lapsed since the Punjab and Haryana High Court expressed the hope that the practice of honour killing would be “stamped out” like sati with the state and society’s intervention. But the menace continues, with the Delhi incident of the alleged honour killing being just one of the many cases.

The couple, attacked in the Delhi’s Dwarka area, had approached the HC for protection after they tied the knot in August, 2020. Claiming themselves to be major, the petitioners had submitted that they had contracted marriage on August 13, 2020, voluntarily but against their family wishes.

Disposing of the plea on August 19 last year, Justice Raj Mohan Singh had asked the couple to approach the Sonepat SSP “before whom they have statedly moved a representation”. The officer, in turn, was asked to ascertain the truth in the allegations of the petitioners and pass appropriate order in accordance with law. Their counsel, Abhimanyu Kalsy, says before this, an FIR was registered against the boy for kidnapping on August 13, 2020, at the Kharkhoda police station. As the boy’s quashing petition came up before Justice Alka Sarin in October last year, the state counsel said a cancellation report had since been prepared. The petition, as such, was dismissed as infructuous.

Their life story is not the only one without happy ending. An affidavit by DGP Manoj Yadava in December last year said 13 criminal cases involving honour killing were pending in eight districts. The matter is currently pending before Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi.

Questioning such incidents, Justice Arun Monga had asserted that one often heard of honour killing in the name of protecting family pride, not giving two hoots to the rights of the runaway couples. The problem appeared to be pan India — north to south.

“It is a fight of ‘love versus honour’! One wonders, what kind of mindless pride/honour is this, which so much blinds the family members/parents as to even kill their own, the ones they gave birth to and/or to eliminate her/his chosen partner?” Underscoring the importance of granting protection to the couples, including the ones in a live-in relationship, Justice Jaishree Thakur added that one could not also lose sight of honour killings prevalent in northern India, particularly in parts of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and UP. It was a result of people marrying without family acceptance. Justice Thakur observed: “It would be a travesty of justice in case protection is denied to persons opting to reside together without the sanctity of marriage…”

Empowerment of Women important

The HC, in Feb 2008, ruled: “We are of the view that the honour killing issue needs attention of all concerned. The issued is linked to gender equality and women empowerment, which is included in the millennium development goals of the international conference of 199 countries in 2000.”