Every now and then a case of an inter-caste or inter-religion couple and their life-threatening hardships in the face of a caste-ridden patriarchal society comes to light.
Decades have passed since the Indian Independence but inter-caste and inter-religion couples continue to struggle in the absence of any support system or even a law against the practice of honour killing.
Earlier this week, the Allahabad High Court rejected the bail petition of one of the men accused in a case of honour killing remarking that ‘there is no place for citizens in our society who act in derogation of the much cherished constitutional values of individual liberty, and, instead, repose faith in archaic social values of family honour to an extent that they would go to eliminate a family member choosing a life partner for herself.
The bail petition in the Gulshan v/s State of UP case was moved by Gulshan, the brother of a woman murdered along with her husband in a case of honour killing, charged under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
The bail was being pleaded on the grounds that the applicant was not charged for shooting the deceased couple and but only for assaulting the injured witness Rohit Kumar. However, the state government had opposed the bail petition reiterating that it was a case of honour killing.
A Single Judge Bench of Justice JJ Munir was hearing a case of honour killing in which a couple namely Jyoti and Rahul from different caste locations had married against the wishes of the woman’s family.
Prima Facie, the Court said that it appears that the family members including the father, brother and uncle of the deceased Jyoti colluded together to end the life of an individual giving priority to their false sense of family pride. ‘The applicant is certainly an active participant in the entire episode, though he may not have wielded the gun or inflicted the fatal injury,’ the Court said rejecting the bail petition.
Read More: “Nobody is entitled to interfere in peaceful life of consenting Adults”-Allahabad HC
