More than 1,000 young people in India have been done to death every year owing to 'Honour Killings' linked to forced marriages and the country needs to introduce stringent legislation to deal firmly with the heinous crime, two legal experts have claimed.
Participating in International Child Abduction, Relocation and Forced Marriages Conference organised by the London Metropolitan University here, Chandigarh-based legal experts
Anil Malhotra and his brother Ranjit Malhotra have said that in traditional societies, honour killings are basically 'justified' as a sanction for 'dishonourable' behaviour.
In a joint paper, they said: "Forced marriages and honour killings are often intertwined. Marriage can be forced to save
honour, and women can be murdered for rejecting a forced marriage and marrying a partner of their own choice who is not acceptable for the family of the girl.
They said in India, honour killings happen with regularity in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.
"They happen not only within the Muslim community but also among Sikhs and Hindus."
Though there was no nationwide data on the prevalent of honour killings in India, they quoted figures compiled by the India Democratic Women's Association, according to which Haryana, Punjab and UP account for about 900 honour killings and another 100 to 300 in the rest of the country.
"The total figure for India would be about the same as estimated for Pakistan, which researchers suggest has the highest per capita incidence of honour killings in the world."
They said the ministries of Home Affairs and the Law and Justice are preparing to amend the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to define the act of "honour killing".
The demand for such a law was made repeatedly with the objective of stamping out this social evil.
"This aim is to provide for deterrent punishment for caste and community panchayats which should be booked for aiding and
abetting such killings and as accomplices to the murder," they said.
They pointed out that the Supreme Court of India, concerned over the spate of recent 'Honour Killings' has asked the Centre and eight state governments to submit reports on the steps taken to prevent this barbaric practice.
The Malhotra brothers were the only representatives from India at the three-day Conference attended by International Family Law Experts from all over the world.
Noting that the issue has acquired alarming proportions in India and abroad, Ranjit Malhotra said while the Indian Government is still mulling a harsh penal law to penalise 'Honour killings', the UK has made forced marriages a civil liability.
"Be it forced marriages or Honour killings, the social dimensions and implications are the same. The larger issue is their resolution. Whether it is societal or legal, is a question which will baffle legal experts, legislators and the people who practice these heinous crimes," he said.
Ranjit Malhotra, the first Indian Lawyer to be awarded the prestigious Felix Scholarship for the LLM degree at SOAS (The School of Oriental & African Studies), University of London, said "forced and early marriages entrap women and young girls in relationships that deprive them of their basic human rights".
Comparing the legal framework adopted by various countries shows that a coordinated approach is necessary so as to effectively combat the problem of forced marriages, Ranjit Malhotra said.
He said: "It is the State's and the society's
responsibility to protect the human rights of its young citizens, to avoid forced marriages, to create possibilities and opportunities for the people concerned to break free and to find protection, support and aid.
"Education of the young women and men as well as their parents is just as much necessary as a broad concept to empower the young people concerned with the problem.
In a separate paper on "Inter-Country Parental Child Removal and the Law", Anil Malhotra looked at the Indian position of 'Inter-Parental Child Abduction" rampantly practised in the 30 million non-resident Indian community
living in 130 countries abroad.
"The malaise is further complicated by the grim reality that India is not a signatory to the International Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, 1980, which has been signed by 76 countries but India not
being a party, children removed to and from india find no return," he said.