For the last couple of months, there has been a spate of news items about “honor killing” of women in India. Many of them are reported from the villages and small towns of Haryana and UP, where most times either the girl or the couple are killed because they marry outside their castes or sometimes within the same “gothras.”
Being brought up in large Indian cities and in a progressive, educated family, this kind of mentality and treatment of girls seems so illogical and alien to me. To me, we live in two different Indias — here, I talk solely from the point of view of rights of women. One India — which is relatively progressive. No one thinks of bumping of their daughters in the mother’s wombs or not giving education to their girl child, not allowing her the option to study or pursue her career or find a partner of her choice. And, then there is an India living in smaller towns and villages — where orthodox families commit female foeticide and these horrendous so-called honor killings. A woman is treated as a property of her male relatives, and how dare she go against their diktats? So, in many horrid cases, she is brutally hacked by her own father, brothers, or uncles. Some of the stories could really leave you cold by their sheer inhumanity.
What can one say of the people who can kill one of their own? It is unimaginable that a parent could ever take the life of his own child. Are these people human beings? I do not know. What is the answer to tackle this atrocity? Surely, a swift and befitting punishment and arrest of all culprits. Will that solve the problem of mindsets? I am not sure. Many of them come from families which are educated. But, their brutal customs seem ingrained in them. I can only hope that social change happens faster.
And, finally, I would have expected the young MP, Naveen Jindal, to have behaved a little more maturely. How could he praise the draconian “khap Panchayats” which regularly pass verdicts to kill innocent couples who marry within their gothras or a person of lower caste? He says, he will take their case to Delhi. Really, how low can the politicians descend for their vote banks! Shameful, if educated people do this.
Yes there are 2 Indias and u have presnted both nicely.It will be many many years when both merge.
And when a girl from a progressive family marries into a ‘conservative family’ it bcums hell. have seen many women go thru that and feel blessed that am not one of them.
And don’t 4get the fact that women’s bill have been 4gotten conveniently in LS
The whole thing is how parents can be so inhuman to kill their children. At times even the mother is part of the crime. The call of the hour is to stop such happenings in the coming days…as said “habits die hard”…it’ll take time for such customs to die.
There has been newspaper report on Haryana bahus making a place for themselves in the ‘Babudom’. In the recent UPSC results there have been two women candidates from Haryana who have managed to get included in the merit list of successful candidates – ranked 70 and 194. Their families have supported them. These girls can lead by examples. We can hope for a great change in the mind-set towards the women folk in these belts.
Time will only tell…
Now it is not only Jindal but also Chautala in Haryana, who have supported Khap Panchayat and ready to give him a place of ‘autonomous body’ in the country. What can you comment upon these people. They don’t think by keeping themselves at the place of these women. Simply ridiculous..
haha jon said it right..
i believe its relative, maybe as im from a state with higher female ratio..right? 🙂
Yes, there are two
INDIA
BHARAT
That should explain it all.
@Bhagyareems You are very right. A girl might feel that just because she likes the boy, she can get along with his family. But, it is really important that the basic approaches of the two families be the same for a fruitful married life.
@Jon Well politicians only care about their vote banks and keeping their coalition partners happy. Who cares about right or wrong?
@Gouri Yes, change is happening but at such a slow pace. How and when will us progressive Indians come out of these shackles of caste-based considerations is something difficult to predict.
@Manika Politicians are all scum. Just cater to the vote banks of this caste or caste, let innocent women get killed. Who cares?
@Ramesh Yep!
@Readers Dias South Indian states are much more progressive about the rights of the women. Some places in the North are truly atrocious as far as giving decent rights to women is concerned.
@BK Chowla I yearn to see the change!
Hi Rachna, it is sad to read, even here of ‘honour killings’. There was a couple of cases here and the people who initiated the dastardly act now in prison, or case before the courts.
You keep well, Lee.
By the way, drop by if free.
@Uncle Lee Yes, it is very sad. I will drop by soon. I am away on vacation and hardly browsing these days :). Have a nice weekend.
You’re right, there’re are 2 Indias. Honor killings, sati… so so so sad.
@Agnes Sad, indeed!