HONOR KILLING IN INDIA

   Bevacizumab the latest "Life Saving Drug" for cancer patients discovered by the medicinal researchers.... Kuwaiti prime minister Sheik Nasser Al Mohammed Al Sabah arrived in Baghdad- the first visit by a Kuwaiti prime minister since the 1991 Gulf war.... Russian parliament agrees with United States to ratify new START treaty......two Koreas restore hot line despite tension..........these are some of the recent news which strongly pave the way towards the World-Peace & human welfare but it doesn't ensure that everything is on the right track, the good has always been accompanied with the bad, so is here, out of a plenty non-social & inhumane issues "honor killing" subsists with an effective magnitude in the society.
 
   When you take your morning news-paper from the doorstep & settle down to read, you will find that incidents pertaining to honor killings in India are either in the headlines or in the pages thereafter every-day. Stringent Indian laws on honor killing s fail to curb the increasing trend. Interestingly, honor killings happen, irrespective of a person's religion or social-status. Every year over 5000 brides are killed for dowry in India. In 2009, approximately 955 cases were registered as honor killings (imagine what the unofficial statistics must be really like). The worst affected region in India is Mijaffarnagar (U.P.), with 25% of honor killing in official police reports.

   Indian laws do not treat honor killing in a specific or separate clause. To explain it simply, honor killing is when a person is killed by his/her family members or relatives because it is believed that the victim has brought dishonor, shame or humiliation to the family or the community which may include-
1. Refusing to marry someone chosen by their family.
2. Having an affair.
3. Demanding a divorce, even in an abusive relationship.
4. Talking or flirting with an unrelated male.
5. Not following a strict dress-code............& many more.

   Typically the police investigate the honor killings but we still live in a society where we have learned to segregate people on the basis of social status, economic standards, religion & caste. Community mentality reside over trifle stuffs - an individual is identified by his caste and status rather than by anything else. The extent of orthodox in the Indian society is still a paradox and has become reluctant to those who think of the modernization resulting in the bifurcation of the society. Khap Panchayat is one such reluctant community which prohibits a person from marrying another one from the same village (more specifically from the same gotras). As news stories prove, anyone who tries to break these rules are penalized through social boycotts and fines. They may also be killed (honor killing) or compelled to commit suicide in extreme cases. A handful of people who constitute the Khap Panchayat decide and control the lives of people, especially young couples, in the community. Khap Panchayats draw their strength from people who support them given their neutral, expedient dispute settlement, as compared to the years of delays in the courts. The govt. of India has failed to take any concrete steps against the Khap Panchayats.

   One would wonder if things have significantly changed in India post independence, which was about six decades ago. We got attention towards scientific, economic, technological and infrastructural advancements the country has shown over the years. Alas ! the package doesn't sound interesting, especially, after knowing well "what lies beneath" (remind of a woman who loves wearing expensive make-up on her face without realizing that she needs to pay more attention to her health to stay healthy and thus naturally beautiful). It's sad to see that nothing much has changed socially, in-fact, decades back, society was divided only on the basis of caste, but today multiple factors are responsible for the social disparity. In modern India, it's hard to find a person who would see himself only as an "Indian". What has emerged after all those years of hard work, sacrifices and bloodsheds during the pre-independence era, is a totally chaotic modern society where people discriminate on the basis of race, color, culture, gender, status, religion and economic standards, which is worser than being divided only on the basis of caste, as earlier.

   Though, the Indian govt. has decided to amend the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to ensure that honor killings are treated as a separate offence so as to provide deterrent punishment to the perpetrators, the problem is that investigation of this offence may not make any progress because the victim's family is usually responsible for it, and therefore, keep the actual facts concealed and without the evidence, nothing can be done by the courts to deliver a fair judgement. The only way to annihilate this demonic curse is to propagate the awareness in the public about the issue, to transform their basic-instincts regarding the vehement principles & embrace the vitality of life, to diffuse the aroma of peace in the society and most of the all to make them understand that there is no honor in killing.