JOIN USEven as Indians continue to impress the world in other fields, the country is yet to get rid of social evils.
The report of 28 cases of honour killings in India last year as has been published by the NCRB corroborates the fact.
According to the latest ‘Crime in India 2014’ report prepared by the NCRB, Madhya Pradesh saw the most numbers of honour killings (seven), followed by Punjab and Maharashtra (five each). Three cases were reported from Jammu and Kashmir.
The fact that Karnataka and Puducherry (2 cases each) also found place in the ignominious list negated the perception that honour killing is exclusively a North Indian phenomenon. Among other states that made the list are Gujarat (two cases), Haryana and UP (one each).
First time
This is the first time the NCRB has recorded murders under the category of ‘honour killing’.
Activists, however, believed that the numbers could be more as there could be instances of cases not identified as ‘honour killing’ by the police or where couples became victims because of lack of institutional help. In May 2011, the Supreme Court had held honour killings as a slur on the nation and termed it a "barbaric, feudal practice" that ought to be stamped out. It directed the courts to view such cases as in "rarest of rare" category for awarding death penalty to the convicts.
Relations killed 2,503
Of the 33,981 murders, 1,307 lost their lives due to love affairs and another 1,196 due to illicit relationships. Property disputes resulted in 2,771 murders while personal enmity led to 2,912 murders.
UP reported the highest number of murders at 5,150 followed by Bihar (3,403), Maharashtra (2,670), Madhya Pradesh (2,274) and West Bengal (2,217). Karnataka had reported (1,636) such cases. The report also flagged concerns over the rising number of murders of senior citizens. Last year, 1,142 elderly people were murdered