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print versionThe Times of India, 16 November 2008
Surajpur is like any of the semi-urban villages that have come to define north Indian cities. Jean-clad youngsters talking into mobile phones are
as much a reality in this kasbah in Greater Noida as their hookah-smoking elders. On the face of it, it seems that the yesterday and today co-exist happily, but last week’s ‘honour killing’ of two teenage girls raised a difficult question: is this really the case?
The old order is constantly being challenged by new and this is a constant source of tension. When the two young girls eloped, their families hunted them down and and shot them dead for violating the family ‘honour’.
Likewise, in Kaluvas, a semi-urban village in Haryana, home to our Olympic bronze winner Vijender Singh. Here, two girls were burnt alive late last month. Their crime – they had gone out on Diwali night to wish some young men a very happy Diwali.
And on Friday, yet another young girl from a village in Muzzafarnagar district of UP lost her life for daring to make her own choices.
These young women are not the only ones victimised by an antiquated, dangerously charged sense of avenging family honour. Many suffer the same fate across northern India but few cases ever get reported. It is shocking that such cases are increasingly being reported from semi-urban India, from places that are close to the centre of power and arguably, within the arc of economic growth that distinguishes ‘modern’ India.
Kaluvas is only three kilometers from the bustling district of Bhiwani. Surajpur is just about 130 kilometers from New Delhi. So what is fuelling the rise in such ‘honour killings’? Social scientists say it is a clash between the old and the new; as also the rights of the individual versus those of the community as a whole.
“With semi-urbanisation, men have taken to emulating city dwellers. As a result, girls are under increased surveillance. And if any one of them is found to violate the laxman rekha , the consequences can be scary,†says Prem Choudhary, author of Contentious Marriages: Eloping Couples, Gender, Caste and Class in Northern India. Choudhary has worked extensively in the villages of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, where ‘honour killings’ are widespread. She says it is accurate to see semi-urban communities as fairly bristling with a renewed sense of ‘honour’. It comes from their attempt to make sense of their new environment, which is why they become even more protective of communal norms.
India’s semi-urban communities are not the only ones to feel challenged by their changed situation. It is a trend in other countries as well. Studies in Turkey show that rapid urbanization can lead violence against women to spiral. This includes violent acts motivated by notions of honour. Diana Nammi, founder and director of London’s International Campaign Against Honour Killing, argues that more women are subjected to such acts of barbarism today simply because they defy parental expectations in order to pursue happiness.
This partly explained by the way a woman is seen to represent the izzat of an entire village. Even the slightest deviance from customary norms of behaviour can cause the entire community to wreak its wrath – and vengeance – upon her. She is also at the receiving end if someone in her family or extended family transgresses the caste barrier. Adolescent males are told to conform to the rules of patriarchy and monitor the young girls in the family. Choudhary says, “It’s a transitional phase. They are still living in many worlds and haven’t come to terms with it.â€
An ‘honour killing’ usually occurs when an upper-caste woman marries or has a relationship with a lower-caste man but in many cases it has had nothing to do with caste. In May, a young couple was strangled to death in Balla, Haryana. The woman was three-weeks pregnant. Their crime was getting married even though they belonged to the same village, which is taboo for Jats.
But activist-writer Urvashi Butalia insists the shame of such violence should be highlighted by removing the prefix ‘honour’ from these murders. “There is no honour in these killings. They are straightforward murders, disguised as honour killings to escape punishment, she says.
It is seen as particularly tragic that honour killings are yet to be recognized as a serious crime. Brinda Karat, CPM leader and general secretary of the All India Democratic Women’s Association says, “There is no political will to address this issue. Our lawmakers are in complete denial that something like this exists. If they raise their voices, it would mean they are challenging caste.â€
But others say there is an urgent need for dialogue. Merely haranguing the offenders will not help, says Madhu Purnima Kishwar, senior fellow at Delhi’s Centre for Study of Developing Societies. “We need to go beyond condoning the deaths,†she says.
