– Rani Rohini Raman

An ‘honour’ crime as an act is not new in India. There is much folklore on the violence being done to young people who assert their choice in having relationships/marriage. Narayan (2003) represents an old tale of Chuharmal and Reshma. Chuharmalwas a Dusad (Dalit) boy and Reshma was a Bhumihar (landlord upper caste of Bihar and U.P). They were in a relationship with each other and were killed in an attack by Reshma’s brother and father. For Dalits of this area this folk tale plays an inspirational role and every year a carnival is organised in some areas of Bihar by the Dalits to celebrate the heroism of Chuharmal. At the same time the play based on their story has been banned by the Bhumihars who see this play as an insult to their caste. One can find several other such examples in several other folk tales. Although such acts of violence have been practised from a long time, the nomenclature of ‘honour’ killings/crimes given by western media, made several scholars categorise these forms of violence as such. It has also merited more media reporting, which is very visible in the rise in the number of reported cases of ‘honour’ crimes. One can say that now the reporting of ‘honour’ crimes has increased, which is to an extent, true.

While discussing the rise in the reporting of ‘honour’ crimes in media, it is also necessary to discuss how the cases of ‘honour’ crimes are being discussed in the media. Earlier, cases of ‘honour’ crimes were being reported from Haryana and Western UP, where khap panchayats had visible role to play. However, one should note the over simplification of ‘honour’ crimes in media reports, where several times, ‘honour’ crimes have been equated only with khap panchayats. This sketch tries to present existing patterns of ‘honour’ crimes being reported in India, with the help of a few cases. In this exercise, the attempt is to present ‘honour’ crimes as a form of structural violence, which occur because of the several inequalities existing in the Indian society.

People who tried to break the barriers
This year on 13th March 2016, in broad daylight, V. Shankar and Kausalya were attacked by some people on bikes. The whole incident was recorded in a CCTV camera as the place happened to be a busy bus stand in Tirupur, Tamil Nadu. Shankar was from a Dalit community while Kausalya was from powerful Thevar community. Shankar succumbed to the injuries and died while Kausalya survived serious injuries. Later Kausalya’s father surrendered in front of the police and took responsibility for the murderous attack. In 2012, upper caste girl N Divya and Dalit boy I Ilavarasan married, things started getting complicated when Divya’s father committed suicide following disturbing remarks from his community members. Divya’s father’s death led to attacks on Dalit houses in Dharmpuri, Tamil Nadu. Also, PMK leader S. Ramados, allegedly made remarks against Dalit boys “who marry upper caste girls for short lived marriages”. After the situation became tense and volatile, Divya left her husband’s house and returned to her mother’s house. She also declared in the court that she wanted to stay with her mother and not with her husband. After a few days of Divya’s deceleration, Ilavarasan’s dead body was found on a railway track. In a similar way, Rizwanur Rehman’s dead body was found on the railway tracks of Kolkata, after his marriage to the daughter of a big business man. Md. Abdul Hakim was shot dead by his wife’s relatives after several years of their marriage, when they had tried to come back to their village after being in exile for a long period. The way in which Monika Dagar and Gaurav Saini were harassed by Monika’s family members and UP police, which led to Monika’s death and Gaurav’s torture in police custody, presents the nexus between police and hierarchical structures of the society.

Cases of Manoj-Babli, Ravinder-Shilpa are such where on the one hand, khap panchayat’s diktats had led to Manoj and Babli’s death and continuous torment of their families. Ravinder’s parents were asked to sell their property and leave the village. These two cases reflected the assertion of strong political and structural power by khap panchayats. In both, police and local administration did not take resolute actions against khap panchayats, as their regular meetings and venomous attacks on these families continued. It was only the orders from the local or High courts, which helped the victims get some respite from the violent ordeal.

Many Deaths, Many Unanswered Questions

The above mentioned cases represent commonly followed patterns of violence against marriages or relationships of choice between girls and boys. On one hand in areas liked Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, where khap panchayats are present, most of the cases do involve the provocative role played by khap panchayat members, where they force girl’s family to take action against the couples. Having said that, it should not be implied that in these states, all ‘honour’ crimes happen only after the khap panchayat gets involved. There are several cases where father, brother or any other male relative kills the couple in fit of rage. Prem Chowdhry, in many of her works has argued that maintaining caste hierarchy and to maintain the hold on land for economic reasons are also crucial factors behind controlling women of the community. In one of the cases discussed with film maker Nakul Singh Shawney, the political ambition of a local leader appeared to be the main reason behind the instigation of the mob to kill the man whose marriage was ‘problematic’ in the eyes of the khap.

Moving ahead, to the other form of violence, which is entirely committed by the family members, the notion of loss of ‘honour’ becomes the focal point. The cases discussed above are only few of the cases of violence which happened on the couple or on one of them. One can keep adding to the list several such cases of suicides/murders of young couples who had successfully managed to get married but later became victims of violence of hatred. From the states like Punjab and Haryana, almost every day news reports of such killings appear. During my research on such cases (which included collecting news reports on ‘honour’ crimes spanning a decade), I had found several cases reported in newspapers, where parents or relatives had killed either one or both after many years of their marriage. In such cases, as mentioned above, primary reason of killing was either continuous provocation from community members or sudden feeling of loss of ‘honour’. By mentioning this, the point which I want to make is that, the notion of ‘loss of honour’ or loss of ‘control over daughter/sister’, is so deeply rooted among the patriarchs of the houses that even after several years of marriage of their daughters, the goal of regaining their ‘honour’ emerges as the main reason behind many of such killings.

Structures behind such forms of violence

Such forms of violence, which are done to control women’s sexuality so that caste and religious hierarchies can be maintained, cannot be seen in isolation from larger unequal societal structures of India. A form of violence, where family members, community members, khap panchayats, police and judiciary are equally involved, needs to be analysed to understand its structural roots. Whenever couples elope, to get married, to escape from series of violent ‘instruments’ pointed towards them, they struggle to be safe from the hands of angry family members and conservative police machinery. But at the same time, when eloped couples are from different castes and especially if boy is from Dalit community, then not only the boy, but his entire family is forced to go through the structural violence being instigated by khap panchayats or other such community collectives. Such practiced forms of violence against marginalised communities, in the name of ‘honour’ is one of the most neglected areas that needs to be focused while searching for answers against ‘honour’ crimes

Rohini is a fellow at Anveshi and can be reached at rohini.redstar@gmail.com.

References:

Badri Narayan, “Honour, violence and conflicting narratives: A Study of Myth and Reality”, New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies 5, 1 (June, 2003); 5-23

Chowdhry Prem. 2007. Contentious Marriages, Eloping Couples/ : Gender, Caste, and Patriarchy in Northern India. New Delhi, New York: Oxford University Press.

Chowdhry, Prem. 1994. The Veiled Woman. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Interview with Nakul Singh Shawney, Documentary filmmaker, “Izzat Nagri ki Asabhya Betiyan”