Law against honour killing on anvil: PC
The government has said that it will be bringing in a law against honour killings in the on-going Monsoon Session of Parliament itself. Before that, the proposed law will be brought before the Union Cabinet for approval.
Stating this in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, Union home minister P. Chidambaram said that there was a need to identify and punish the crime of honour killing with “greater severity”. The minister who was replying to a calling attention motion on honour killings in the Lok Sabha further said that state governments are also being consulted on the new law that is being considered and that a “strong bill” is on the anvil. Earlier in his initial remarks on honour killings, Mr Chidambaram had told the House: “Honour crimes are acts of violence, usually murder, mostly committed by family members predominantly against female relatives who are perceived to have brought dishonour upon the family.”
He had noted, “There is no honour in this killing” and that it was “most dishonourable in this day and age”. Stating that there is no separate law to deal with honour killings or crimes at present, Mr Chidambaram said that such crimes are dealt with under the IPC and investigated and prosecuted under the IPC or Cr.Pc.
Interestingly, while all the other MP who spoke during the calling attention expressed their concern over honour killings and voiced the need for a law to deal with them, RJD leader Lalu Prasad was the only one who sought an all-party meeting before the law is passed. Describing it as a sensitive issue, the RJD leader said that the GoM currently looking into the new law under consideration to curb honour killings is not the “bhagya vidhata” (decider of fate) for the country.
However, the CPI’s Gurudas Dasgupta who was among those who had moved the calling attention retorted by telling him, “Criminality is criminality.”
Mr Prasad’s remarks cut little ice with the home minister who proceeded to state that the law was being contemplated to punish the crimes committed against young couples. He also said that it was his “duty to ensure that laws are obeyed and law breakers are punished”. Among those who spoke in favour of a stringent law to curb honour killings was the BJP’s deputy leader in the LS, Gopinath Munde and Congress MP Girija Vyas.
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