Honour killing or shame killing is the term used when one member of the family (especially male) kills another member of the family (especially female) because that member has brought shame to the family’s culture tradition by committing something wrong acc ording to the members of the family. That act committed has affected the reputation of the family, the act can take the form of divorce (even if husband was abusive), love marriage (and not arranged same gotra marriages), marrying a person of the lower caste, commission of adultery, etc. These sort of killings can also be termed as cultural killing, as it is done when a person acts beyond the scope of the code of conduct laid down in that particular culture,household, and community, by breaching the code and this is considered to be “illegal” or “immoral”. This has been happening in many places in the nation, but there has not been any specific legislation only for Honour killing, it usually comes under the category of murder or homicide. We will be discussing the international and national aspects of law with regard to honour killing.
Honour Killings are considered as a gross violation of human rights against a women as it has proven that theory are more vulnerable to this than that of men. Killing a women for the purposes of honor is highly violating their rights. There have been several international conventions and conferences namely the International Convention on Human Rights (1948), International Convention of Civil and Political Rights (1966), Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979), have stated that the human rights of women should be duly protected and “honor” is no defence to honour killing as a means to protecting the culture and tradition, and this is against the principle of right to life as stated under the UDHR (Universal Declaration Of Human Rights), 1948. There have other international laws with respect to this, but the above ones are the most important ones.
Now lets look into the laws present in India regarding Honour Killing, as stated above there has not been any specific ;legislation on the topic of Honour Killing, even though it has been highly prevalent. We will be looking into other provisions in other legislation where one could be punished for heinous crime. As honor killing is nor so different form mourder and homicide which have been mention in the Indian Penal Code, 1860, it is assumed that they are sufficient to decide the punishment and penalty in the case of honour killing. The provisions of the IPC have been discussed as follows:
- Sections 299-304: Penalises any person guilty of murder and culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The punishment for murder is life sentence or death and fine. The punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder is life imprisonment or imprisonment for upto 10 years and fine.
- Section 307: Penalises attempt to murder with imprisonment for upto 10 years and a fine. If a person is hurt, the penalty can extend to life imprisonment.
- Section 308: Penalises attempt to commit culpable homicide by imprisonment for upto 3 years or with fine or with both. If it causes hurt, the person shall be imprisoned for upto 7 years or fined or both.
- Section 120A and B: Penalises any person who is a party to a criminal conspiracy.
- Sections 107-116: Penalises persons for abetment of offences including murder and culpable homicide.
- Section 34 and 35: Penalises criminal acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention.
However, in spite of the above provisions a bill is being proposed in the parliament to amend specific provision of different laws like, the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and Indian Evidence Act the Special Marriages Act, 1954, and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 as there have been a rise in the cases of honour killing, the bill soughts to bring necessary amendment in these acts in order to decrease the crimes related to honour killing. The bill in question is still pending. The amendments that are ought be but under the bill are an amendment was thought to be brought in the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, so that burden of proof can be shifted to the accuses, hence the accused who are the family members and panchayats, in this case have to prove their innocence by giving reason that an honour killing has not taken place. In the same manner an amendment has to be brought to section 300 of the IPC, to include honour killing as a different type of murder, and the process for marriage has to be shorter an easier under the Special Marriages Act, 1954 so that the couple couple can not be prone to honour killing. An amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 disallowing same gotra marriage has to be demanded. After seeing the above provisions, it can be concluded that a separate legislation or amendments to the present act has to be brought for honour killing as soon as possible. The efforts taken have to be completed, and a new legislation has to be brought.
To sum it up, we Indians tend to give a lot of importance to culture and tradition, as they form the core part of our lives. It has been proven that in some specific areas like Haryana, uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan in North India, and Kerala, Tamil Nadu, in South India, honour killings are highly prevalent. These are not new in rural areas but they also exist in urban areas too, and even in other states in the nation. How much ever developed we are, there are certain things in which our thinking doesn’t change, we tend to stick to our old ways and myths, instead of becoming dynamic ans change as per the changes in the society. Caste and culture play an important role in politics, education and in almost everything in the nation. There have been cases where a person in the family is highly educated, ans still has committed this crime. Even education is not able the change the mentality of a person. Its high time we take measures to eradicate this mental disease existing in the corners of every society. Its time we change and bring a change regarding this issues. Developments should not only take place in terms of money and economy, it has to take place in the way we accept newer thing in life. Tradition and culture should no longer be a excuse for killing a person, we have to keep in mind that even the cultural concepts are prone to subjective opinion. It is not stated anywhere that a change cannot happen, and one cannot deviate from one’s culture, we are the ones who are thinking like that. We should understand that there is no honour in killing a person
Track2Training 