Monday, January 10, 2011

INDIA HONOUR KILLING: A real crime!

Prof Rajita Chaudhuri follow some off-beat trends like organizing make up sessions

Supporting honour killings is most shameful

India is clearly burning. From terrorism, internal instability, and the separatist elements' movement to the price rise and much more, the country has more reasons to worry about today than ever before. However, behind all these, the issue that is silently becoming a grave concern is honour killing. It is such a concern not because it kills 100 people every year, but because it shows the primitive mindsets we still carry. During the last few months, incidents of honour killing have grabbed enough space in Indian media. The issue got special attention with the inhuman punishment that one girl Imrana was given. She was set on fire inside her house by her brothers because she was accused of befriending Irfan, before she was finally rescued by neighbours. The most recent case of honour killing that has garnered enough attention concerned the deaths of Monica, her husband Kuldeep and cousin Shobha by her own brother and his friends Mandeep Nagar, Nakul Khari and Ankit Chaudhury. Even on July 5, when the media was busy covering the "Bharat bandh" and its consequences, three cases were reported in a leading English daily. Uttam Kumar and Anju, who met at Safdarjung Hospital and wanted to marry against their families' wishes, were ruthlessly murdered allegedly by Anju's family members. Umesh and Jyoti who got married against their families' permission in Delhi, reported that Jyoti's family has allegedly beaten up Umesh's father and had threatened to kill the couple. Two more teenagers in love were allegedly tortured to death for breaking barriers of religion in Fatehabad district of Haryana.

Although, the issue of honour killings is a big concern globally, especially in the Middle East, Europe and South Asia, it is unique in India. A country with huge diversity in terms of caste, creed, community and religion is bound to experience resistance when it comes to inter-caste or inter-religion marriages. Surprisingly, honour killings are rare in South India, Maharashtra and Gujarat. What is more surprising is that no honour killing has been reported over the last 100 years in West Bengal, perhaps, because of the teachings, hard work and contributions of reformists like Vivekananda, Ramakrishna, Vidyasagar and Raja Ram Mohan Roy. Only northern states of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan and Bihar and parts of UP witness severe cases of honour killing. Reasons are diverse. Strong community sense of Jat, Gujjar and other communities and insecurity of keeping their race pure and separated is one of them. Poor representation of women at local level and women's negligible engagement in socio-economic development is the other. Religion is another prominent reason behind such brutal killings. Over 100 killings take place every year in India as against over 5,000 globally. Surprisingly, honour killings have increased in educated and rich families indicating that it is not a result of poverty and illiteracy. The increase in the income and migration to metro cities is leading young people to find their partners by themselves rather than going by their parents' choice. This is threatening the social trend that the parents have inherited since years.

India has no specific laws to deal with honour killings. Though the government has promised that it will pass a Bill in the Monsoon Session, little has been undertaken at the policy level to curb this heinous crime. This also needs stronger participation of government and the NGOs. More importantly, the constructive engagement of the community is very much required!

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM BBA MBA Institute: Student Notice Board
Award Conferred To Irom Chanu Sharmila By IIPM
IIPM Lucknow – News article in Economic Times and Times of India
IIPM Prof Rajita Chaudhuri's Snaps

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