Shouldn't there be a separate law for honour killing Honour killing is the murder of a family member because he/she has brought dishonour upon the family. Dishonour can be brought in various ways but most of the cases of honour killing are related to marrying a person outside the caste or religion. India's constitution (specifically article 14.

Equality before law and article 15. Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth.) has banned caste discrimination but the social grading still avert many marriages between couples for different castes. Couples who cross caste boundaries can face harrying and appal.

And in apex cases, kinsfolk resort to baneful violence known as honour killing. Udumalpet honour killing In March 2016, Kausalya and her newlywed husband Shankar, who was from inferior class, were brutally attacked in daylight hours. Shankar died of his injuries. In Kausalya's statement, she said just the week before the attack my mother, father, grandmother and an uncle had come to my place and told me to come with them.

When I said, No, they warned that they wouldn't be responsible if any harm came to us. Eleven people were charged in connection with the attack, including Kausalya's parents. Kausalya becomes a key witness against her own parents. In the verdict of Session Court, Tiruppur, Kausalya's father has been sentenced to death and her mother and uncle have been acquitted on the basis of benefit of the doubt.

In 2020, Kausalya's father won an appeal and has been acquitted of all charges and released from prison. As a last resort, Kausalya is set to file a final appeal challenging the acquittal of her parents in the Supreme Court of India. Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu –the murdered bride Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu or Jassi was born in Canada and grew up in Canada only. Her family was always a conservative family who follows the Sikh religion.

When Jassi was young her father died and much of the decisions of the household was taken over by Jassi's uncle Surjeet Singh her mother's eldest brother. Sukhwinder Singh or mithoo who was a native of Punjab used to play kabaddi and kabaddi made him a star by 1995. That year jassi came to mithoo's village where her mother was born and heard stories of the handsome kabaddi player and they fall in love with each year. Mithoo who was a year younger would never be a suitable match for Jassi as his job was driving a rickshaw taxi and was considered inglorious.

He had no property and no wealth. Mithoo and Jassi found a Sikh priest to marry them in confidential and on March 15, 1999, they got married. She told mithoo that if her family discovered that she was involved with him they would kill her. Somehow Jassi's mother knew about the secret marriage of her daughter with mithoo. After that Jassi was confined to her room and Jassi's uncle got madden for deceiving them and set on to get back at mithoo with a lesson he would never forget.

He told Punjab police that Jassi's marriage to mithoo was a fraud. The uncle said Jassi was kidnapped at gunpoint by mithoo and forced to sign a blank marriage paper. Jassi hires a lawyer and finally, the false charges against mithoo are set aside. They shifted to another village because it was too dangerous to stay in that village. After few months Jassi's mother called mithoo and asks to speak to Jassi. Jassi is overjoyed to be talking to her mother again after so many months but she has said too much. After few days when Jassi and mithoo were riding on the scooter behind them, there was a car following them.

They suddenly attacked them, Jassi got hit by a club and fell off the scooter and mithoo got hit by the sword. Mithoo is left for dead and Jassi was abducted by the men. Next morning a villager in an irrigation ditch found Jassi's body lying in the water. News of the murdered bride filled the newspaper. Beautiful wealthy Canadian woman whose love for a rickshaw diver cost her life. As the investigation begins investigators found evidence of long-distance phone records, a call to the killer's cell phone on the night of the Jassi's murder.

The phone number matches the number of Jassi's uncle Surjeet Singh. One of the killers even confessed to the police surjeet was telling them that 'you kill the girl, we'll pay you more. He says, 'the girl is pleading innocent' she wants to talk to you. Surjeet said, ok, you talk to girl's mother and killer gave the phone to Jassi. The killer overheard that Jassi begging her mother for her life. She was telling her mother, please leave me, please have mercy on me.

The mother said, kill her. Don't leave her and then the killers slit her throat. This case has proved that honour is rooted in the culture. Honour is very dear to them. For them honour is more important than the life of a child. It has been 20 years, the killers have not being punished for this brutal killing. The government must pass legislation to acknowledge the severity of this crime.

It is the duty of our government to protect such couples, act as a shield against the killers, give them shelter and more importantly to recognize honour killing as more severe than committing murder. There are some other people as well who helps such couples. There is an organisation called love commandos that helps inter-caste couples to stay together without fear. They hide couples from disgruntled families.

Volunteers at love commandos offer the protection they act as a shield against the offended families. Love commandos have also set-up safe houses where couples who feel they would be browbeaten by their families can stay. Delhi government has also come up with creating safe houses for inter-caste couples but creating safe houses is not enough there is something more to be done.

There should be a separate law in our country for honour killing offences whose punishment should not be less than life imprisonment or the death sentence. Speedy and separate trials shall be conducted for honour killings crimes. By enacting a separate law there shall be some level of improvement in the speed of disposal of cases in the courts.