Karat wants bill to tackle honour killings tabled in monsoon session-July 10, 2010

Karat wants bill to tackle honour killings tabled in monsoon session
July 10, 2010 20:05 IST




The Communist Party of India-Marxist demanded tabling of a draft law to deal with honour killings in the monsoon session of Parliament, alleging that "political considerations" were downplaying the magnitude of such crimes. The party also criticised Home Minister P Chidambaram [ Images ], saying he had a "flawed understanding" on having a separate comprehensive legislation on the issue and alleged that at least in one state, where several such murders had taken place, there was an attempt by those in office to defend the actions of "self-styled caste panchayats."

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [ Images ], CPI-M [ Images ] leader Brinda Karat [ Images ] said "there are political considerations at work to downplay the magnitude of the crime. There is an attempt by those in office in at least one of the states where such crimes have occurred to defend the highly retrograde actions of self-styled caste panchayats in the name of tradition. You will agree that to put vote bank politics over the requirements of those in office to uphold the rights granted by the Constitution is abhorrent. Yet this is being done."

Maintaining that discussions with state governments and the Group of Ministers on the issue would "not be at all helpful", Karat said "delays on the part of the central government to decide on a firm course of action in setting up a legal framework strengthens the perception that it is caused by the pressure of vote bank politics". "Unfortunately", she said, Home Minister P Chidambaram was "clearly unaware of the logic" for a separate legislation on the issue as he had maintained that prima facie he was "'not sure whether that will take us very far'. "It is this flawed understanding of those charged with addressing the crime which is responsible for the misconceived piecemeal attempts for a legal framework that we see today." Urging the Prime Minister to "do justice to young couples who are victims of anti-democratic and casteist notions and beliefs", she said "what is required is a firm decision by the government for a separate law, the draft of which may be placed in Parliament in the coming session".

Parties in Parliament, cutting across political lines, had supported the suggestion that there should be a separate law to deal with the range of honour crimes, Karat said. Observing that there were many dimensions to these crimes, she said it included the absence of a definition of 'honour' crime, the role of caste panchayats, that of the girl's family which often do not file complaints when a girl disappeared and of law enforcement agencies acting in connivance with the perpetrators of the crime.