Madras High Court, Chennai, India. GEMINI/Adobe Stock

A case in the Madras High Court has led to renewed calls for specific legislation to address the issue of ‘honour killings’ in India. The judge in the case, Justice B Pugalendhi, singled out the country’s deep-rooted caste system as a key driver of such violence, calling it a national ‘curse’ while delivering a bail order in July.

An ‘honour killing’ is the murder of an individual perceived to have brought shame upon a family. ‘The causes of honour killings are basically threefold: inter-caste or inter-faith marriages and property or old family disputes,’ says Amir Singh Pasrich, IBA Treasurer and a Member of its Management Board. Individuals might also be targeted because of their involvement in a same-sex relationship.

There’s no dedicated legislation in India for honour killings. Instead, they are dealt with as a caste crime under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act 2015 or under the general statutes of murder and culpable homicide under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, which replaced the Indian Penal Code.

The lack of data is one reason why Pradeep believes that a specific law to treat honour killings as distinct from murder is needed. Such legislation could allow for a greater understanding of how many of these crimes occur in India and where the impact is most keenly felt. It would also act as a stronger deterrent and help to protect inter-caste couples, Pradeep believes. Without a specific law, ‘there is no fear’ and ‘people don’t take the issue seriously,’ she says.

In 2022, the Bengaluru-based Centre for Law and Policy Research – supported by the Network to Combat Crimes Committed in the Name of Honour, a group of civil society organisations, lawyers, grassroots activists and other interested individuals – drafted legislation to recognise and prohibit ‘crimes in the name of honour’ and to provide adequate systematic support to survivors. However, the draft bill has not progressed within India’s Parliament.

Pasrich, a senior advocate, believes the laws in their current form are, however, strong enough. He explains that the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita includes the crime of murder on the grounds of race, caste or community, sex or place of birth. ‘That section in effect covers honour killings,’ he says. ‘I don’t think that the law is inadequate from a legislative point of view because honour killings are no different from ordinary murder. They are the worst of crimes and are treated no differently.’

His concern is that a separate law could potentially allow for a lower sentence to be given for honour killings, and that this in turn might influence how those accused in murder trials defend themselves in court. He says that if the motivation is to discourage such atrocities, it’s a cultural problem to tackle rather than a legal one. ‘From my point of view, the country as a whole and its legal system have time and again sustained the usual strong punitive action against any honour killings,’ says Pasrich. ‘Indian criminal law is now agnostic to the motive of killing. If it’s a killing for cause, it is punishable as is any other murder, and I hope it stays that way.’

Shiv Chopra, a legal associate at the Chambers of Advocate Pritish Sabharwal in Delhi, highlights however that ‘in criminal jurisprudence, the motive behind the crime is a crucial factor in the determination of the punishment,’ adding that honour killings are ‘a social evil that has to be done away with.’

While there is specific legislation that protects people of different castes as well as inter-caste marriage, this doesn’t overlap with Indian law as it relates to murder. Chopra sees, therefore, a ‘requirement to adequately legislate for the offence of murder where it takes place pursuant to an honour killing.’

He doesn’t believe that such a change will happen any time soon, however, given that the Indian Parliament only recently enacted the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. In overhauling India’s penal code, the legislature opted not to implement measures related to honour killings specifically.

While legislative change may be far off, there remain measures that the government and the wider community can take to better protect couples who choose to have a relationship regardless of their faith or caste, say experts. ‘There has to be a much larger exercise undertaken by the government to educate people that it is perfectly reasonable for someone to marry someone of their choice,’ says Chopra. ‘It requires education’ and a ‘ground level grassroot approach as well as a legislative approach.’