What triggers honour killings

In the past few months, cases of horrific killings in the name of family pride and honour have been steadily on the rise. In most cases, the police is too scared to interfere. NDTV takes a look at what triggers these killings and how the families of young boys and girls who are murdered cope with the tragedy.

It's the festival of teej, there's a swing under every tree and laughter in the air. At first glance, all seem well in Korora village in Karnal. But one house is the centre of a shocking tragedy. Two years ago, Manoj Banhala eloped with Sunetra, a girl from the same clan or 'gotra'.

As they sensed trouble, the couple had asked for police protection. And yet they were hunted down and killed. Seven men from the girl's family are in jail and Manoj's family is under pressure to withdraw the case.

"We are facing a social boycott, nobody talks to us. You know they threw their bodies in the canal we only got to know ten days later," said Manoj's mother.

Ten km away, in village Bhalla, it's the same story. A young couple was murdered by the girl's family. Eleven men from the house are in jail facing murder charges, reason being the girl belonged to the same 'gotra' as the boy. The 'gotra' or clan is unique to one family, and people in the village believe to marry within the same 'gotra' amounts to incest.

"The Indian constitution says any adult man and woman can marry. Men and women have many relationships, can a father and daughter marry? We want the Hindu code bill amended," said Pawanjit Banhala from Jat Mahapanchayat.

But how does one explain away murder? Here lies another social reality - a taint like this can damage the marital prospects of other girls in the family. Honour killing is seen as a way to regain a place in the community.

It is strange to hear words like honour pride used to explain away the murder of young defenseless boys and girls, but this cannot be stopped by government laws or press reports. The change will have to come in from within this society.