Honor Killing – Why it happens and how to check it ?
Disclaimer- In this article , we are not only answering the question of the debate but also trying to probe Honor itself as a concept from philosophical to sociological perspective and then find out its utility in society.
What is Honor :- Figment of Imagination or a real thing ?
Come to think of it, what constitutes honor ? – is indeed a fundamental questions .Honor is probably akin to air – we can not see it , although we can feel it , yet unlike air which is around us , honor is probably has its home in our minds.A realistic view would be to conclude honor as figment of our imagination ?
So why does one kill to satisfy the figment of an imagination ?
To address the above question it is necessary to understand that what utility does honor have ?Air has its utility – it sustains life , does honor sustain life ? or at least does it have any profound impact on our lives ?
Many anthropologist tried to answer this question and their views are as divided as two shorelines of a river, however fortunately they do have a convergence when the definition of honor is concerned.
From technical standpoint honor can be broadly divided in to two categories- Horizontal honor and Vertical honor.
Horizontal honor is defined as the “right to respect among an exclusive society of equals.”
Vertical honor, on the other hand, isn’t about mutual respect, but is rather about giving praise and esteem to those “who are superior, whether by virtue of their abilities, their rank, their services to the community, their sex, their kinship, their office, or anything else.
Vertical honor, by its nature, is hierarchical and competitive. Vertical honor goes to the man who not only lives the code of honor, but excels at doing so
Honor has equivalence in reputation and honor killing has its genesis to protect the reputation.Honor killing is carried out to protect both the horizontal honor and vertical honor.
Honor Killing :-
‘Honor’ killings stem from a social system that has been conditioned by a rigid, often local, understanding of what honor means. Understanding of honor is colored by attitudinal factors like patrilineal mindset and misconstrued religious and cultural values.
Its existence till date with a ugly face despite India putting greater strides In the path of civilization , it can be attributed to several social, attitudinal and political factors.
The Victims:-
The victims of honor killing in India are largely the “Love Birds”. As the philosophers conclude – “love is blind” and when two consenting adults from different social backgrounds such as – different caste or differ religion try to marry , in order to uphold the perceived notion of honor in society the act is committed either by parents or relatives or others concerned.
Social factors
- In several communities across India, women are seen as the emblems of family honor. Their behavior, decisions and actions are seen as a reflection of the family’s “values” .So any deviation from the “accepted” route is a dent on family status.
- Since inter-caste marriages ,village exogamy tend to weaken the differences existing among the different caste groups disturbing the caste hierarchies. So marriage or a love affair between a high caste girl and a low caste boy is always contested and criminalized.
Attitudinal factors
- Social fencing attitude– In which a circle is surrounded around a woman to protect her, and crossing that line, by a man or woman, calls for action from family men whose sense of honor or masculinity has been perceived to have been challenged.
- Patrilinial mindset emphasizes the need for controlling the female sexuality to assure the paternity and lineage of the offspring. A man’s honour largely lies in his ability to impose such control on his womenfolk.
Political factors
- Cold-blooded murders for the preservation of honor is the direct cause due to a feudal-mindset, the belief in male-chauvinism, lack of formal governance in rural areas and Khap panchayat acting as parallel courts.
- The “culture of silence” adopted by the villagers leading to lack of any substantial evidence thereby hampering the process of investigation, when taken up, is another perpetrator of this social stigma.
- Lack of political will to take steps towards the abolition of the Khaps. The state government and other major political parties take stringent measures against the Khap Panchayats in the fear of losing votebanks.
- Even the police and the judiciary at times act as mute spectators and passive supporters of the honor protectors. It is generally mostly targeted against women even though the murder of men also takes place.
- The recent murders in Tamilnadu and Karnataka brought this gruesome act to the limelight again.
Laws:
- Honour Killing is ultimately a form of homicide and thus constitutes a violation of Article 14, 15(1) and (3), 19, 21 and 39(f) of The Constitution of India.
- It is against the various International Commitments the Government of India has made in the “United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women” (1982), Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966).
- Article 51 (e) of the Indian Constitution enumerates the fundamental duty to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities and to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women.
- Inter-caste marriages have been validated in India as early as in 1949 by the Hindu Marriages Validity Act, 1949.
- Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, diametrically against the customary marriage rules in India, offers more freedom in marriage by doing away with identification of marital partners according to caste and permits inter-caste marriages.
- Preventing a woman from marrying a person of her choice is an emotional abuse under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.
Supreme court:
- The Supreme Court in 2011, outlawed the evil practice of of protracted illegal honour killings by Khap Panchayats in India establishing that individual liberty under Article 21 has the highest place in the Constitution
- Landmark case of Lata Singh v State of Uttar Pradesh the Supreme Court has ruled that “there is nothing honourable in such killings, and in fact they are nothing but barbaric and shameful acts of murder”
- In the case of Arumugam Servai vs.State of Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court has declared honour killings based on the perception of the Khaps, wholly illegal that must be stamped out.
- The Supreme Court in Bhagwan Dass v. State of NCT, Delhi, 2011 laid down that honour killings satisfy ‘the rarest of the rare’ doctrine so as to attract the death penalty for its perpetrators.
Suggestions:
- Honour killing crimes goes unreported resulting in a very low conviction rate. To deal with this issue, it is essential that a specific legislation in this regard with heavy penalty is enacted.
- Like all social evils, unless society shuns these practices, the police and judiciary alone cannot save the victims who want to decide their life partner on their own.
- Measures should be taken by the government, media houses and several institutions through audio-visuals, skits and short dramas in villages etc. to appeal emotionally to the parents to respect the liberty of their children rather than to uphold some orthodox social norms which sometimes result in the death of their only child.
- It is clear from the above legal provisions that honor killing is nothing but murder in clod blood and how to stop society from committing such acts has to have multidimensional approach.
- Family is at epicenter of it and reforms in family itself can be most profound antidote to honor killing.How to permeate the values of individual liberty in to individual families is the most significant questions and should be the focus of all measures directed against honor killing.
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- LEAF is supported by transnational corporations (TNCs) like Unilever plc, Amazon.com, Inc, Nestle, Airbnb, Inc as well as Emergent, a US-based non-profit.
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- Between 2002-2020, Brazil’s total area of humid primary forest reduced by 7.7 per cent while India’s reduced by 3.4 per cent.
- Although the loss in India is not as drastic as in Brazil, its position is nevertheless precarious. For India, this loss is equivalent to 951 metric tonnes worth carbon dioxide emissions released in the atmosphere.
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Context:-
At the recently concluded Leaders’ Summit on Climate in April 2021, Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition, a collective of the United States, United Kingdom and Norway governments, came up with a $1 billion fund plan that shall be offered to countries committed to arrest the decline of their tropical forests by 2030.
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]What is LEAF Coalition?
Why LEAF Coalition?
Brazil & India
According to the UN-REDD programme, after the energy sector, deforestation accounts for massive carbon emissions — close to 11 per cent — in the atmosphere. Rapid urbanisation and commercialisation of forest produce are the main causes behind rampant deforestation across tropical forests.
Tribes, Forests and Government
Disregarding climate change as a valid excuse for the fires, Indian government officials were quick to lay the blame for deforestation on activities of forest dwellers and even labelled them “mischievous elements” and “unwanted elements”.
Policy makers around the world have emphasised the role of indigenous tribes and local communities in checking deforestation. These communities depend on forests for their survival as well as livelihood. Hence, they understand the need to protect forests. However, by posing legitimate environmental concerns as obstacles to real development, governments of developing countries swiftly avoid protection of forests and rights of forest dwellers.
For instance, the Government of India has not been forthcoming in recognising the socio-economic, civil, political or even cultural rights of forest dwellers. According to data from the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs in December, 2020 over 55 per cent of this population has still not been granted either individual or community ownership of their lands.
To make matters worse, the government has undertaken systematic and sustained measures to render the landmark Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 ineffective in its implementation. The Act had sought to legitimise claims of forest dwellers on occupied forest land.
Various government decisions have seriously undermined the position of indigenous people within India. These include proposing amendments to the obsolete Indian Forest Act, 1927 that give forest officials the power to take away forest dwellers’ rights and to even use firearms with impunity.
There is also the Supreme Court’s order of February, 2019 directing state governments to evict illegal encroachers of forest land or millions of forest dwellers inhabiting forests since generations as a measure to conserve wildlife. Finally, there is the lack of data on novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) deaths among the forest dwelling population;
Tardy administration, insufficient supervision, apathetic attitude and a lack of political intent defeat the cause of forest dwelling populations in India, thereby directly affecting efforts at arresting deforestation.
Way Forward
Tuntiak Katan, a global indigenous leader from Ecuador and general coordinator of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, aptly indicated the next steps at the Climate Summit:
“The first step is recognition of land rights. The second step is the recognition of the contributions of local communities and indigenous communities, meaning the contributions of indigenous peoples.We also need recognition of traditional knowledge practices in order to fight climate change”
Perhaps India can begin by taking the first step.