Honor Killing: A Legal Perspective

Introduction

Shame killing is the killing of a family member by other members, owing to the obnoxious belief that person so shall be murdered ruthlessly murdered since he/she has brought disrespect to the family. This belief has been grounded on the fact that the victim has been the cause of bringing shame to the family in general and violating its principles. The causes for these are not limited to being involved in a same-sex relationship, not being willing to enter into an arranged marriage transaction, having sexual affairs, or worst of them being victims of rape.

The Origin of this honor killing can be traced way back to the Romanian times when the senior members inclusive of being male and female had the right to kill an unmarried sexually active daughter or a wife accused of being involved in an adulterous relationship these are common forms of violence against women which have been prevalent in the society stoning to death or hanging a girl from the tree is considered as no crime since the family values and principles stand above the personal liberty and privacy of a woman in general.

Nature

The notion of honor killing and the justification for violence and killing has never been limited to any society or region or society. Moreover, the honor-based violence is reflected in the historical events of India and in works of literature.

Rarely it has also been noticed that men are also a victim of honor killings by the family whenever they are in a relationship with a man because it is considered as an inappropriate relationship in the Indian society, therefore, the term honor killing has to be pointed out as not being general in approach thereby applying to both men and women in a culture that practice is it.

The crime taking place is not singular in approach, moreover, it is a collection of various crimes, the act is planned by the family, many times by extended family members. This is further  accelerated by the desire to control the women’s behavior, i.e. in regard to her sexuality, sometimes male interaction and even with all these attached perpetrators still get away because no negative stigma is present in the society, moreover, it feels rather justified, As such the incidents become extremely difficult to report and take action as most of these killings go on to be mentioned as suicides or accidents deaths

Triggers

There are diverse causes for such shame killings, herein attached are the most prominent triggers.

• Arrange Marriage: This is the most common form of shame killing because there is a free notion that the family would face disgrace if the marriage does not proceed with the pre-arrangements that have been made.
• Divorce: Second most common form of shame killing because when a wife seeks for divorce without the consent of the husband the extended family can have a trigger for shame and disrespect throughout the community and in order to avoid that the murder of an innocent girl seems to be the most viable way.
• Allegation: In the modern-day society is an allegation upon a woman specifically upon her character or her involvement with other female friends is enough to tarnish the image of a family and their reputation and the fear of being left out in society.  
• Rape Victim: Currently in our society, the rape victims are the people to bear the most of the violence lest their own problems their family makes them suffer too because in the eyes of the family the girl who was raped has brought tremendous disrespect to the family and thus our survival is only a dismayed to the family.
• Homosexuality: The idea of being a transgender or a lesbian or belonging to the LGBTQ community triggers the idea of disrespect body shaming in the extended family members for whom the only cure is to eliminate the element of such disrespect by way of a murder.

Conclusion

Honor killings are not something different from murder and are not something which is only prevalent in the Indian subcontinent but is something more widespread. This notion is accelerated by the fact that various people across the globe over the centuries have believed that woman is a property belonging to the males of the family irrespective of religious or class group. This is a patriarchal view endorsed till today, because this concept of ownership has made a woman into a commodity meant to be bought and exchanged. The idea behind honor killings has made women lose their bodies and sexuality to men, with ideas of insuring virginity lest they do all this they are all prone to being murdered in the garb of family respect and shame.

Honor in honor killings is a spit on the ideas of women freedom and their upliftment. It should be understood then there can be no greater crime than killing their own children, the whole perceived idea about lost respect, therefore, needs to go and Male or female should be left alone in its entirety.