Struggle for Love
“You will Cry forever”
According to the definition of these killings, an honor killing is defined as the killing of a member of a family or social group by other members who feel the victim has brought shame to the family or community. The victim’s demise is seen as a means of restoring the family’s honor and prestige.
Honor killings are not a recent phenomenon. They have been happening for centuries all over the world. In the history books, we find such cases in 1200 BC in Hamarabi and Assyrian tribes. In those tribes, women’s chastity was considered the property of families. In ancient times, families gave complete control to the men of the family for both their children and their wives. It is quite disturbing to read that such killings were rationalized and justified. At that time, being raped was so dishonorable that the elders of the tribe believed that it would be so detrimental to a woman’s life and reputation that killing her was considered to be a ‘merciful act.
In recent years, this type of crime has become increasingly prevalent in regions where feudalism is more pronounced and where caste and village communities are still strong.
Khaps of the dominant caste govern the rural agrarian economy, and if someone tries to overthrow the established order by weakening the caste bridge, they publicly condemn such actions and warn others about the consequences thus promoting a narrative, all in an effort to maintain their dominance.
When we go deeper into the roots of these anti-love killings, we find that they also include other problems like incest or merely the perception of adultery. From the surface, it appears that caste struggles to maintain the purity of the caste are to blame.
For Indians, marriage is a religious sacrament and is seen as an enduring sacred tie between two families as well as between two individuals. As a result, choosing the right partner for a wedding is important in order to preserve the sanctity.
When Selecting a companion of your choice backlash gets amplified when it comes to gender.
If we take the example of the love marriage known as “Gandharva vivah” in the shastras, women deal more with the unseen inertia of society than men do. This is because women are more examined by men when it comes to upholding the social order.
Women must restrain themselves in order to uphold the purity, sanctity, and honor of the family.
When someone challenges the social order, one of the repercussions is death.
The anti-asexual and anti-adultery worldview, where women are slaughtered on the basis of a mere perception of involvement in these actions, is another source of inspiration for these crimes.
Due to the combination of orthodoxy, anti-queer attitude, and patriarchy that precedes honour killings, the religious and caste hegemony is maintained.
We have laws and court rulings against these old-order ideas, but they are still not being implemented on the ground. India underwent political reform by accepting democracy, but social reforms lagged behind, leading to a confrontation between the new order and the old order.
People who desire to be with someone they love must therefore go through a lot and, for the most part, give up because of social prejudice as the state can’t practically provide them 24x7 protection.
“God unified the flowers which cannot travel with the butterflies, and for ye flowers which can, He bestowed upon thee with butterflies as the emotion of love!”
