HONOUR KILLING: a dark side of North India!

Best Citation – Khushi Sharma, HONOUR KILLING: a dark side of North India!, 2 IJLR 62 (2021)

Abstract

Honour killings are the brutal act of killing done by families of the family member who is said to have brought shame on the name and honour of the family. According to the data obtained from the United States, out of 5000 cases of honour killing reported internationally, 1000 are from our country India. Whereas the NGOs claim that actual rate is four times this figure I.e. 20,000 cases each year internationally. The patronage of the family and community and lenient laws are the reasons the result of which is the frequent trend of honour killings. This inhuman act also possess socio-cultural legitimacy giving the excuse that it is required for maintaining honour and cultural values in the community. As per the Report on Human Rights Practices for 2019, the most number of honour killing cases are from the northern India especially in states like Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. The major reasons of honour killing are the intolerance of the families to the premarital affairs and matrimonial choices of the females in the family. Offence like honour killing is a result of the State’s inability to protect the fundamental rights of its citizens. Honour killings are the violation of the basic human rights and fundamental rights of a person and state is in urgent need to make ways for protecting the victims from such violation. This paper deals in understanding honour killing, its triggers and reasons and the laws which are there to prevent honour killing in India.