Saturday, July 10th, 2010 | Posted by admin
Inter-Caste Ties Behind Most Honour Killings
Akhil Bhartiya Mahila Samiti members shout slogans during a prtest
honour killings in New Delhi.
Study finds that killings in Haryana, Punjab & UP are result of
patriarchal society's intolerance for girls' empowerment.
NEW DELHI – Barbaric honour crimes that have come to stay in the
northern states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh appear more
rooted in girls' empowerment than in same gotra marriages that Khap
panchayats are happily advocating.
Preliminary findings from a study commissioned by the National
Commission for Women (NCW) reveal that 72 per cent of the 326
documented honour-related crimes in the aforementioned vulnerable
states over the past one year involve couples that entered into
inter-caste marriages.
Only three per cent of these cases — data collected from authentic
sources like the police and court records — involve youngsters in same
gotra marriages where the issue of Jat pride and Khap panchayats
actually comes into play. As many as 15 per cent crimes happened in
situations where couples married without the consent of families.
Seven per cent happened where youngsters entered into contentious
wedlocks having run away from their houses while one per cent involved
couples in inter-religious weddings.
The findings point to a new reality — honour crimes are happening
primarily in situations where girls are walking out on families to
exercise their own choice of marrying a boy from another caste or
someone their parents didn't consent to. Plainly put, girls are paying
a price for making personal and professional choices."This assumption
is not an exaggeration. During our research, we went through all the
cases minutely and found that the trend is more about a patriarchal
society's intolerance for girls' empowerment than anything else. In
Haryana alone, more boys than girls are now dropping out of school;
more girls than boys are landing themselves good jobs. This is not
going down well with the system. That's why girls' families are the
largest perpetrators," Ravi Kant, president, Shakti Vahini told TNS.
He is also the petitioner in the honour killing PIL filed in the
Supreme Court, which has issued notices to eight state governments.
The researchers are also attributing the crimes to fears of property
division among families. "When girls marry against parents' choices,
there is always a possibility that she might claim her property share
as per the Hindu Succession Act of 2005. In arranged marriages, that's
less likely. This fear is another cause behind honour crimes. As for
Khaps, they are just drawing political mileage out of the situation,"
Kant said.
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