Honor Killings --- Whose honor is being killed???

The chronicles in the news papers showcase the pathetic state our country is in today. In this article I’m speaking about “honor killings”. After 64 years of Independence still these practices which were followed extensively in the ancient period prevail in our country.


When I first read about honor killings in the news paper I felt like expressing my views on it. But then it took me a while to get back to blogger space as I found myself preoccupied with other works. These barbaric incidents are prevalent in many regions in our country including Bihar and Haryana.

The perceived dishonor is normally the result of the following behaviors, or the suspicion of such behaviors:

(a) Utilizing dress codes unacceptable to the family/community

(b) Wanting to terminate or prevent an arranged marriage or desiring to marry by own choice

I always categorize a person’s life into two phases: Before and after he/she attains his/her “Mental maturity”. After we get the so called “mental maturity” we know what we want. It is at this particular phase in a person’s life where independence in cerebration should be encouraged. They should be allowed to do things according to their choice. Why should one dictate how the other person should lead his/her life when they are capable of doing things on their own? Giving a piece of advice is always acceptable but making rules for others living is not acceptable.

Everyone should have the freedom to choose their life partners. After all it is us who invented this caste/creed/color based differentiation. I keep on saying this example when people speak about differentiation based on caste/creed/color. The human race has its origin from the early man. From then onwards, over the years we became civilized and to show that we are civilized to the people around us, we started discriminating ourselves from the so called “un-civilized people”. So from the broader perspective we shouldn’t be worried too much about such discrimination.

I don’t really criticize people who do not follow their traditional practices. But I hate people who have no respect for their traditions. Everyone should have some value and respect for their tradition. But they shouldn’t be obsessed about their traditional practices. People do change in due course of time as the world around us is changing. So they should learn to exist in such a rapidly evolving world.

At the end of the day taking a life is never an answer to any problem in this world. But people still believe that death is the ultimate penalization. Any problem can be solved by means of “SENSIBLE” communication. I hope people would realize this someday or the other.