<p class="bodytext">The killing of 25-year-old Radhika Yadav, allegedly by her father in Gurugram on Friday, is a chilling pointer to the hold patriarchy has on the attitudes and conduct of Indians, in spite of our claims about economic and social progress. That a man could shut out his paternal instincts and gun down his young daughter – a tennis player, athlete, and entrepreneur – for not fitting into what he perceived as acceptable social order shows how firmly rooted the regression is. A daughter who had so many achievements at such a young age should have been the pride of her father. But in a perverse turn of personal prejudice, the man believed that the daughter, with her rising social status and economic independence, had “shamed” him, and ended up questioning his worthiness.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Radhika ran a tennis academy, had appeared in a music video and, according to some reports, wanted to be a social media influencer. These activities and aspirations do not conform to the ideas about women in a traditional community. They are not readily acceptable ideas about women even in an India that prides itself on modernity and cosmopolitanism, and especially in regions where the khap culture is a lurking social reality. Radhika was a subject of gossip in the circles in which her father moved and he was taunted as a man dependent on his daughter for a living. That he was a well-off person did not matter. Instead of backing his daughter and defending her against baseless slander, Deepak Yadav chose to succumb to the sense of patriarchal hurt in him. It was ‘honour killing’ of a kind that is common in certain sections of society. This is a form of crime that happens when a woman’s independent choices are seen as in conflict with the image and values of a family or community. It is an assertion of dominance and masculinity over women’s autonomy. The bottom line is that the father’s sense of honour and prejudice prevailed over the love he had for his daughter.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Gurugram is known as Millennium City and is a cyber hub, but the killing shows that urban facades cannot mask the patriarchal designs of society. The mindset seeks to punish the woman who aspires – her ambition and successes disrupt the perceived order of power dynamics between man and woman. Deepak Yadav is a symbol; he represents the wrongs of a social system that endorses patriarchy and a culture of male entitlement – a culture that killed Radhika Yadav and many others like her.</p>
<p class="bodytext">The killing of 25-year-old Radhika Yadav, allegedly by her father in Gurugram on Friday, is a chilling pointer to the hold patriarchy has on the attitudes and conduct of Indians, in spite of our claims about economic and social progress. That a man could shut out his paternal instincts and gun down his young daughter – a tennis player, athlete, and entrepreneur – for not fitting into what he perceived as acceptable social order shows how firmly rooted the regression is. A daughter who had so many achievements at such a young age should have been the pride of her father. But in a perverse turn of personal prejudice, the man believed that the daughter, with her rising social status and economic independence, had “shamed” him, and ended up questioning his worthiness.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Radhika ran a tennis academy, had appeared in a music video and, according to some reports, wanted to be a social media influencer. These activities and aspirations do not conform to the ideas about women in a traditional community. They are not readily acceptable ideas about women even in an India that prides itself on modernity and cosmopolitanism, and especially in regions where the khap culture is a lurking social reality. Radhika was a subject of gossip in the circles in which her father moved and he was taunted as a man dependent on his daughter for a living. That he was a well-off person did not matter. Instead of backing his daughter and defending her against baseless slander, Deepak Yadav chose to succumb to the sense of patriarchal hurt in him. It was ‘honour killing’ of a kind that is common in certain sections of society. This is a form of crime that happens when a woman’s independent choices are seen as in conflict with the image and values of a family or community. It is an assertion of dominance and masculinity over women’s autonomy. The bottom line is that the father’s sense of honour and prejudice prevailed over the love he had for his daughter.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Gurugram is known as Millennium City and is a cyber hub, but the killing shows that urban facades cannot mask the patriarchal designs of society. The mindset seeks to punish the woman who aspires – her ambition and successes disrupt the perceived order of power dynamics between man and woman. Deepak Yadav is a symbol; he represents the wrongs of a social system that endorses patriarchy and a culture of male entitlement – a culture that killed Radhika Yadav and many others like her.</p>
