Honour killing still continuing
By Rashmi Saksena
While the judiciary is slowly but surely showing zero tolerance towards perpetrators of killings in the name of honour, is the politician still soft on them? Yes and an unequivocal one at that. The disturbing answer once again highlights the unsavory truth, that for the political class, the vote bank is god. They will do nothing that will erode their vote bank, even if it is at the cost of the life of innocents. The March 30 arrest of Bibi Jagir Kaur, Punjab’s lone woman minister in the newly elected Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP government is the latest example of political protection or veiled tolerance for those who order the murder of young boys and girls under the garb of tradition and culture.
The powerful Punjab politician Jagir Kaur was sentenced to five years imprisonment by a CBI court in Patila for her role in the mysterious death of her daughter Harpreet Kaur in 2000. Kaur, was sent to judicial custody for 14 days. Kaur has been held guilty under Indian Penal Code (IPC) – Section 120-B (conspiracy), 313 (causing miscarriage without woman’s consent), 344 (wrongful confinement for 10 days or more) and 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent of secretly and wrongfully to confine person).
Even as a prisoner, Kaur who is close to Chief minister Badal and the only woman to twice head the Shiromani Gurudwara Committee (SGPC)that runs all Gurudwaras in the State, has brazenly used with success her political clout and influence. Her request to be transferred immediately to the Kapurthala Central jail was met with at once. Here she is reportedly permitted to hold a durbar, has been provided a TV and other gizmos and was given a red carpet welcome by officials. Reports reveal that some officials (not in uniform) even touched her feet when she arrived at the jail as a prisoner! Jagir has preferred Kapurthala jail for obvious reasons. It is in village Begowal in the district that she reigns supreme as the head of a cash rich “dera”. This is where she has her finances and following. By indulging the woman held guilty of conspiring to kill her daughter after forcing her to abort a six month old baby in the womb, the ruling political leaders have exhibited their tolerance for such criminals. This is the message the Badal government is sending out. While Kaur will approach the Punjab & Haryana High Court against the verdict, while CBI will fight to get her convicted on murder charges.
What led a mother to conspire to kill her 19 year old pregnant daughter? The former minister and SGPC chief Kaur was angry because Harpreet had secretly married Kamaljeet of Begowal village who is from a ‘lower caste’. Harpreet was rushed to hospital from her mother’s home by her domestic help and a doctor who later turned approver in the case. Doctors declared her dead on arrival, and no post-mortem was conducted. Kamaljeet accused Jagir of forcibly making his wife undergo an abortion and then getting her killed at Phagwara. Investigations started months after the death. On April 27, 2000, Kamaljit Singh petitioned the Punjab High Court to commission an inquiry into Harpreet’s death. The CBI registered an FIR in the case following Punjab and Haryana High Court’s order. He produced photos and a video of their wedding. The fact that many witnesses turned hostile including Kamaljeet who at one stage went back on his allegations only to return to fight, shows the political influence Jagir wields. The CBI charge sheet says Jagir Kaur ”conspired to eliminate” Harpreet Kaur after she could not persuade her to give up the idea of marrying Kamaljeet. It goes on to say that Jagir’s close aide Daljinder Kaur Dhesi, administered a lethal dose of poison to Harpreet. Jagir also consulted a medical officer of a dispensary at Begowal, to suggest a poison that could be used to ”eliminate her daughter.” According to the charge sheet Harpreet was abducted from Chandigarh and kept in ”wrongful confinement”. Later, her pregnancy was terminated. It was then decided to eliminate Harpreet and destroy the evidence.
The biggest perpetrators of despicable ‘honour’ killings are the ‘khap panchayats’ or caste councils of the Jats that have become a law unto themselves in Haryana, Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh. A Khap panchayat is made up of a particular caste of the Jats. Each caste has many Gotras or clans which have nothing to do with the Brahamanical gotras. A Brahamanical gotra shows a person the name of the ancient rishi whose descendant he is supposed to be. Jat gotras are named after a person or a place. There are said to be 2700 Jat gotras. Khap panchayats hold marriage between boys and girls from the same gotra and village as incestuous as they are considered brother and sister. To maintain this tradition and culture, khaps order the killing of those who trash this and marry according to the dictates of their heart.
History tells that in the 14th century the upper caste Jats built Khaps to give speedy justice to its caste members. Basically it is a social entity and not a legal one and different from the elected gram panchayats. How have these Khap panchayats with their unwritten laws gained extra Constitutional powers and consider themselves above judicial courts of the country? How come that their decision to murder in the name of tradition and honour goes on unchecked? How have they become powerful enough to issue fatwas, declare marriages void without the sanction of law? Simply because politicians and political parties choose not to take them on because they have the withall to deliver votes en bloc. Since the decisions of Khaps bind the villagers all that politicians have to do is keep the khap leaders on their right side. Politicians are scared to speak out against their heinous actions for fear of losing votes. The silence by Haryana leaders like Kiran Choudhary of the Congress across on orders of the Khaps to hound and murder those who have married in the same gotra or village is deafening. Leaders from ex chief minister O P Chautala’s INLD and Naveen Jindal of the congress have in fact pleaded the case of the Khaps who are demanding an amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 to prohibit marriage in the same gotra.
The first to take action against a Khap panchayat head for ordering a honour killing and letting it be executed by relatives of a newly wed couple was the Karnal District Court. In March 2010, in a first by an Indian court, the Karnal district court gave death penality to five men and a life sentence to the Khap head for the killing of Manoj and Babli. Both were from village Karora and from the Banwala gotra. Their marriage was seen as sacrilege by Babli’s brother and uncles and of course by the Khap. Even police protection could not save the couple as the policemen abandoned them. Babli was forced to consume pesticide by her uncle and Manoj strangulated by them. No Karnal lawyer wanted to take the case filed by Manoj’s mother. This again shows the social acceptance of Khaps and their fatwas.
The UPA government has proposed that Section 300 of the IPC be amended to include honour killings within the definition of murder. Turning this down the Law Commission has drafted the Prohibition of Unlawful Assembly (Interference with the Freedom of Matrimonial Alliances) Bill 2011 that seeks to declare Khap panchayats unlawful if it condemns marriages not prohibited by law but on the ground of bringing dishonor to the caste or community.
Will the politicians tread where the judiciary has gone in to tackle a criminal activity in the name of honour and tradition? It remains to be seen if political will will match the judicial effort. (IPA Service)