In a horrific incident that shook Kalaburagi’s Melakunda village, an 18-year old girl from the Lingayat community named Kavita Kollura, was brutally murdered by her father and relatives over her relationship with Mallappa Poojari, a boy from the Kuruba community. Her family opposed this relationship due to the tensions between the two communities, fearing it would tarnish their honour and affect the marriage prospects of Kavita’s four sisters. When Kavita refused to end the relationship, her father Shankar Kollura, with the help of two relatives, strangled her to death, and attempted to disguise it as a suicide by forcing pesticide into her mouth and burning her body. The police arrested the accused, and the case has garnered widespread outrage over persistent dishonour killings in India.
Honour killing is the murder of an individual, in most cases by their own family members, for their involvement in an inter-caste/religious relationship. It also stems from a lot of issues like casteism, Islamophobia, homophobia, and Brahminical patriarchy. At its core lies the caste system, that governs marriage and other social relations. ‘Honour’ is maintained by guarding caste boundaries to preserve socio-economic status and lineage.
Alongside caste, misogyny amplifies the violence. Women’s autonomy, especially their marital choice, is tightly controlled by patriarchy. The fundamental reason behind honour killings is the idea that a family’s honour is tied to a woman’s chastity. The policing of female sexuality through brutal means makes women the primary targets of such honour-based killings.
India is seeing a rise in honour killing cases. According to National Crime Records Bureau data, the number of honour killings reported in India rose from 25 in 2019 and 2020, to 33 in 2021, though these figures likely underestimate the true scale. Honour killing cases are more prevalent in states like UP, Bihar, and Rajasthan, but they are also being increasingly reported in the southern states including Karnataka. Senior advocate KBK Swamy explains that honour killing in Karnataka is not a new practice. It dates back to the 12th century during the time of social reformer Basavanna. Back then, inter-caste marriages or relationships were punished by a practice called ‘Yele Hoote’ where those involved, mostly women marrying men from lower castes, were tied to an elephant’s leg, and the elephant was made to walk around town, killing the victims.
The rise in honour killings is entwined with the growing influence of the RSS and right-wing groups, whose ideologies emphasize caste pride, cultural purity, and patriarchal values. They encourage vigilante mindsets and legitimize casteist, Islamophobic and patriarchal violence as preservation of culture and social order than criminal acts. The normalization of hyper-nationalist narratives fuels intolerance and serves the fascist agenda.
Despite the gravity of the issue, there is no specific law that recognizes honour killings as a distinct crime, even in the new criminal laws. The Supreme Court has acknowledged honour crimes as barbaric acts of violence rooted in caste patriarchy, and recommended that the legislature enact a dedicated law against honour killings, but no such laws exist. This, too, allows perpetrators to evade justice or receive lenient treatment, due to societal support and patriarchal stigma around reporting such crimes.
Tackling honour killing demands confronting deep structural issues embedded in Indian society. It requires collective efforts towards dismantling the root causes of honour killing. These social evils are part of the feudal society that we are living in. Only by uprooting feudal practices, can we get rid of such evils and ensure freedom of choice and safety for all individuals, irrespective of caste, religion, and gender.
