Curb honour crimes

The so-called honour killing which is more prevalent in North India seems to have spread to the southern part of the country as well. The killing of a 24-year-old Dalit man in front of his 23-year-old pregnant wife in Miryalaguda in Nalgonda district of Telangana is a classic case of such brutal practice.

Pranay was a Dalit while his wife Amruta belongs to an upper caste. The gruesome murder rightly triggered public outrage. The town was shut down, the media went hyperactive, and the perpetrators were arrested, but then a few days down the line the issue will be forgotten. May be after some time the perpetrators will come out on bail. The need of the hour for the society at large is to sit up and find ways and means – social as well as legal – to put an end to such heinous crimes.

Political parties, whether national or regional, tirelessly profess to be true champions of the cause of Dalits and backward classes ad nauseam on eve of elections. It is all mere lip service, for they never join forces to ensure safety and security of inter-caste couples either socially or legally. Leave alone action, they do not even dare condemn such incidents.

‘Beti Bachao Beti Padao,’ is an excellent concept mooted by Prime Minister Modi who deserves all kudos, but it remains a mere slogan in reality. No visible measures have been taken to bring all parties on a common platform even to address the issue. In this respect, no party, be it national or state level, can escape reproach for inaction.  
In the Miryalaguda incident, all that the state government, ruling and opposition parties did was extend a lip sympathy. Tech-savvy among them like KTR tweeted their outrage. 

Most leaders who make a beeline if some a VIP dies refrained from calling on and consoling the widow of Pranay. Though few like Jana Reddy called on Amruta, they seemed to derive political mileage, rather than initiate – or at least call for – measures to curb this menace. While the Congress blamed that TRS leaders were supporting the perpetrators, the TRS retaliated that it was Congress leaders who were backing them. It is unfortunate neither the CM nor the leader of opposition vowed not to let such acts recur in future.

So many innocents were killed after inter-caste marriages across the nation. Has one leader striven to stir nation’s conscience and set the stage for a national debate? It is time they proved they have the courage and spine to rise to the occasion. 

Since it is election time, the political parties should seize the initiative and sensitise the Indian society against such horrible crimes and spell what they would do if voted to power. The parties have a duty to rally the people in the campaign against honour killing. Yes, things will not change overnight but a beginning needs to be made somewhere. If the two Telugu states take the lead, the movement could spread to the north where such practice is more rampant.