"Honor" Killings

Yesterday HRLN hosted an Indian People's Tribunal about "honor" killings. Honor killings are where

the murder of a family or clan member by one or more fellow (mostly male) family members, in which the perpetrators (and potentially the wider community) believe the victim to have brought dishonor upon the family, clan, or community. [link]

The tribunal was set up so that victims from various neighboring states in India came and told their stories, and a number of NGOs focused on this particular issue also came to speak about their efforts to provide support for victims, as well as attempts to provide awareness about the issue. Victims meaning those who were lucky enough to run away from their village, or get some police security - we heard many stories from relatives and advocates who spoke on behalf of those who were not so fortunate, and were murdered.

One of the speakers was Ravi Kant, an advocate from the organization Shakti Vahini. He presented a few statistics on honor killings. The tribunal (and his presentation) was focused on honor killings in cases of marriage - marriage which the family did not agree with, for a number of reasons. The highest reason for honor killings (according to the information presented by Ravi Kant) was intercaste marriage. Most shocking to me, however, was the number of honor killings done simply because the couple had found each other, rather than arranged through families. These were cases where there wasn't a caste issue, or difference in religion - but just because the couple had committed a "love marriage."

One of the stories presented has been quite big in the news in India (which has led to a lot of public discussion about these so-called honor killings): Manoj and Babli. Manoj's sister told the story, as both Manoj and Babli were murdered by Babli's family three years ago. Manoj and Babli were what the local caste council had determined to be the same gotra:

gotra denotes all persons who trace descent in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor. . . . In almost all Hindu families, marriage within the same gotra is prohibited, since people with same gotra are considered to be siblings. [link]

Manoj and Babli got married and were living away from the village for their safety, as Babli's family was adamantly opposed to the marriage. But Babli's family went and lodged a fake kidnapping report with the police - claiming that Manoj had kidnapped Babli. There was a warrant put out for Manoj, and the police repeatedly harassed their family despite the protests of Manoj's family, that it was a fake report. Finally Manoj and Babli went to the local court, so that Babli could testify that she had left of her own volition, and she wanted to be with Manoj, and that they were married. The court ordered police protection until they could get back to their home away from their village. But instead, the police simply dropped Manoj and Babli at a bus stand, from which Babli's family members picked them up, took them to a field, and murdered them.

The stories were all similar to this - cases where the police had failed to provide protections, where the local courts would provide no assistance, cases where the local village councils often sided against the couples, all but endorsing violence against the couple. It was hard to listen to the stories - many were speaking about their own mothers and brothers who had committed violence against them, which is unimaginable to me.

The one highlight that came out of the day was from the various advocates and social activists who were there representing different NGOs who are focusing on this issue. Providing their own security to couples, helping them get legal papers for their marriage, and simple support to those in need - all the representatives were earnest and eager to speak about further collaboration and future directions for advocacy.