By Divya Sharma *

On achieving independence, it was believed that India will usher into a Modern Nation State wherein there will be no place for any kind of exploitation and suppression either in the name of caste, religion, sex or language, wherein feudal practices and values of the past will be substituted by values of egalitarianism. The Founding Fathers, thus, gave India a Constitution committing it to values of Equality, Liberty and Fraternity assuring Human dignity. The Preamble and Parts III and IV of the Constitution, incorporating these values framed the heart and soul of India 's Constitutional Democracy. Further, Part IV-A required every citizen to respect and adhere to values constitutionalized.

Keeping in view Constitution's egalitarian nature, its supremacy above all other laws and six decades of its existence, it is mind-boggling to learn that even in today's time a young man, Ved Pal could be lynched in public on July 22 nd , 2009 in Jind District for marrying a girl of his own gotra and Gehlawat Jhajjar District being shielded by police personnel against their own neighbour because their son dared to marry a girl belonging to same gotra . In yet another case of suspected honour killing, on August 9, 2009 , the bodies of a couple were found hanging from a tree in Siwana Village , Jhajjar. Similarly, in Meerut so close to the Capital, on July 10, 2009 brutal killing of Manoj , a Dalit boy and Afsana, a Muslim girl was reported for marrying each other. If these killings are shocking more shocking is their justification in the name of 'honour'. Both men and women are killed for violating the perceived code of 'honour' that extends beyond the family to encompass caste and community. Except few, in most of honour killing cases it is the woman who is the victim. In Parliament on July 28, 2009 , the Home Minister P. Chidambaram called such crimes a blot on the country. According to Indian Population Statistics Survey 2007, 655 homicidal cases were registered as honour killings across the country. The figure stands at 209 for Punjab and Delhi . However, most cases are reported from Haryana, Punjab , Western Uttar Pradesh and some areas of South. A Report of the United Nations Population Fund 2000 estimated as many as 5,000 women and girls being killed each year by relatives for dishonouring their family. Many of the cases involve the "dishonour" of having been raped.

Killing in the name of honour amounts to utter rejection of 'egalitarianism' - a corner stone of India's Constitution and testifies how the values of 'feudalism' and 'patriarchy' are rooted in our social systems and structures. Honour killings are rooted in anachronistic, antiquated attitudes and false promises. Articles 3 and 16 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 suggest that "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security. Men and women of full age without any limitation due to race, nationality or region should have a choice to marry or to have family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage and dissolution. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the attending spouses. The family is the natural and fundamental group, unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and State." In the same vein, right to love and live with a person of one's choice is enshrined as a fundamental right in the Constitution. Honour killings, thus, constitute gravest disregard of universal human rights and massive violation of fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution.

According to Human Rights Watch: "Honour crimes are acts of violence, usually murder committed by male family members against female family members, who are held to have brought dishonour upon the family. A woman can be targeted by the family for a variety of reasons including- refusing to enter into an arranged marriage, being a victim of a sexual assault, seeking a divorce or (allegedly) committing adultery. The mere perception that a woman behaved in a way that 'dishonours' her family is sufficient to trigger an attack on her life."

Two main factors contribute against women in the name of honour: women's comodification and conceptions of honour. Women are considered as the property of the males in their family, irrespective of their class, ethnic or religious groups. The owner of the property has the right to decide its fate. Such conceptions of women deeply inform many societies and cultures even in today's era, for example, honour killings in countries like Syria and Pakistan are very much prevalent. Secondly, the perception of what defines honour appears to be deeply immersed in patriarchic values and have been so widely interpreted to include male control which extends not only to the body of a woman, but all her behaviour including her movements, language and actions. In any of these areas, defiance by women translates into undermining male honour and ultimately damaging the family and community honour.

Most of these honour killings are decided and ordered by the so-called "caste panchayats", comprising members of a particular caste. Often, villagers give precedence to the judgment of the caste panchayat which represents the community mentality. The forms of violence range from public lynching and murder to rape. In few cases people's faces are blackened or heads shaved off. Some are forced to eat excreta or drink urine, while others face social boycott.

In the wake of the recent killing of Vedpal, Manoj and Afsana and successful belligerent attitude of community panchayat in Thajor of Haryana, blocking of village against the police posted under due order to protect the ostracized family of Ghelawat, voices have been raised including uproar in the Parliament on July 28, 2009 for bringing special law to deal with 'honour killings'. Whether and if so, what kind of special law is required are questions that demand wider and considered debate. However, in our view the most urgent and the least is to recognise these killings as most heinous, cold blooded and well calculated and pre-mediated murders and nothing short of that and there is need to investigate, prosecute and give punishment in exemplary ways so that a message can be conveyed. In our view there is a strong case for considering shifting of burden of proof at a particular stage from prosecution to the accused unlike cases involving charge of murder. Also, it is relevant to consider, whether the entire community panchayat can be punished for collectively perpetrating and committing the crime on the pattern of provisions contained in the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Power of injunction can be given to the local Magistrate to stop the Community Panchayat from acting on these issues. It is emphasized that 'honour killing' being a social evil, can not be just eliminated through law alone. Almost every substitution- social, economic, political and cultural Will have to be sensitized against this crime; no doubt law could only be one of the important tools to fight this heinous practise. Immediately, one can think of some of the steps such as: sensitizing police officials, enforcing existing legislations, setting up women police stations, counselling victims of rape, sensitizing judiciary and civil administrations, do require immediate attention. Spreading legal literacy, empowering women to realize their own worth and independence are probably the key to deal with the most deplorable practise.

* National Law University , Delhi