In the latest case of a reported honour killing, a 27-year-old woman and her paramour, both married, were allegedly murdered by her four brothers in Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh late Tuesday night, police said. This incident follows a violent incident a week ago when a 19-year-old youth in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur was beaten to death allegedly by the relatives of his female friend who later died by suicide.

In the present case, as reported by the Indian Express, one of the accused, Mursleen, 32, has surrendered before the Ramala police station at Baghpat and confessed to killing the duo, an officer said. The police have arrested another accused Shehnawaz, 28, while a search is being conducted to nab the remaining two brothers.

The police said that Mursleen who reached Ramala police station around 11 pm on Tuesday told them that he along with his three brothers had killed his sister Mehjabeen, 27, who is a mother of three, and her lover Arif, 30. Mursleen told the police that the couple who hailed from Asara village were in a previous relationship that continued even after Mehjabeen’s marriage to another person in Shamli village seven years ago.

According to police, Mehjabeen and Arif had eloped from Asara village on October 20. Since then their family members along with the police have been searching for them. “Mursleen’s friend who spotted the couple in Meerut town on Tuesday followed them, besides informing their whereabouts to Mehjabeen’s brothers. The brothers reached Meerut by evening and held the two under captivity. The couple was taken to their village where both were murdered by the four brothers,” they said.

“The Ramala police officials have recovered both the bodies from the forests near the Asara and Lumb villages in a late night combing operation. Two brothers have been arrested so far while raids are being conducted to nab the other two,” said Neeraj Kumar Jadaun, Baghpat district SP.

In another incident in West UP 19-year-old Zia-Ur-Rehman was allegedly beaten death by the family members of his female friend Tanu Saini at her house on the night of November 1.Tanu later died by suicide. The police have not made any arrest in this regard.

Related:

Inter-faith love affair takes a tragic turn in Uttar Pradesh

Jharkhand: Muslim man allegedly killed for being in a relationship with a non-Muslim woman

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We lived in very troubled times where notions of secularism and justice are continuously negotiated through identities. That there was no march against this barbarism is a testament to the warped understanding of secularism which we practice today. The custodians of secularism see such honour killings only through the majoritarian or the dominant caste lens, thereby completely denying the existence of similar problems within minority communities. This kind of politics in the long run will only turn counter-productive and will be detrimental for the well- being of minorities, particularly Muslims in India.

 If not the secular lobby, then the Muslims should have been at the forefront of leading demonstrations against such barbarism committed by its one of their own. It is a very sorry state of affairs that while we care so much for Hadiya and her freedom of choice, the many Hadiyas within our own community are denied the very same freedoms. But when the practice of secularism has meant protection of all kinds of regressive behaviour within Muslims and the Muslims themselves have internalised it, then it is perhaps too much to expect that things will change for the better in the near future.

It is appalling to see some of the comments on social media which the secular lobby and the Muslim apologists have made. While they are partly right in asserting that there is no need to draw an equivalence between targeted killings of Muslims like Pahlu Khan which is a product of certain ideology, they forget that regimes of honour killings exists among Muslims too. Certainly, there is no movement amongst the Muslims to defend the killers as we see in the case of Shambhulal Raigar, but that does not mean that we shut our eyes and ears to the question of acute gender discrimination in our community.

Actually this should have provided the occasion to debate what is wrong within our community, instead the whole energy of the community has gone into proving how this case should not be equated with cases like that of Pahlu Khan and other Muslims who have been killed in the name of love jihad. What is more troublesome are those voices from within the community who refuse to believe that this is a structural issue within the community. Rather, the argument is that this should be treated as an aberration and should be located within the criminality of that particular family who committed this act of barbarity. It is the same people who were arguing how the killings of Muslims were part of a pattern which arose from ideological indoctrination of the Hindu Right wing and that it should not be seen as an isolated incident. In borrowing the language of Right Wing Hindutva forces, the Muslims and the seculars need to decide whether this strategy will do their politics any good in the long run.

There is a need to acknowledge that problem exists and that scores of Muslim girls are not afforded the choice of marrying out of their own volition. Compounded with this is the indoctrination which goes in the mind of every Muslim child that Islam is the best religion and therefore even if a girl chooses to marry outside the community, the man has to necessarily convert to Islam. If we agree that this amounts to ideological indoctrination and yet we are absolutely fine with it, then I do not understand why we should have a problem with the ideological indoctrination carried on the Hindu Right wing forces. Failure to recognise this only makes us hypocritical and open to allegations that we practice double standards.

 Certainly, this is not the first case of honour killing associated with the Muslim community. Neither is it going to be the last. In Kolkata in 2012, a Muslim brother severed the head her sister for being in a relationship with another Muslim man, but which the family did not approve of. He took the severed head of his sister to the police station as a trophy and surrendered without any remorse. That women are considered properties of their respective families and communities applies equally to Muslims.

Only through a reasoned and empathetic debate can we arrive at a solution to this problem of honour killings. But all such discussion will have to keep the individual’s choice at the forefront. Muslims themselves should take the lead to initiate such a discussion within their community. Democracy and secularism are not for others to practice but rather it is the minorities who should be at the forefront of all such struggles. Sadly, it is us, the Muslim minority, which has very acute deficit of democracy and choice within our own community.

Arshad Alam is a NewAgeIslam.com columnist.

Courtesy: NewAgeIslam
 

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AIDWA remembering Shankar on his first death anniversary. Kausalya seen fourth from the left

Last year, on the 14th of March, Shankar was murdered for marrying Kausalya, a girl from the Kallar community in Tamil Nadu. Shankar was a Dalit from Kumaralingam village in Udumalpet; Kausalya, a Thevar from Palani, belongs to an OBC caste with social and political clout in the state. On that day, both of them were attacked by a group of 5 men armed with weapons. Shankar died on the spot succumbing to the injuries. Kausalya’s father surrendered to the local police, and confessed to the murder.

Now, a year later, after going through the trauma of loss, Kausalya has decided to come out and fight the system of caste, the primary reason for the death of Shankar. Today, Kausalya is 20-years old. She has decided to work with women’s organisations in the area. These organisations fight for the rights of women in a patriarchal society and steadfastly oppose the archaic and barbaric practice of honour killing. “There is plenty of work for me to do in this society now. I believe that I must fight against that which took Shankar away from me” says Kausalya. “Several organisations are working towards this cause, I have decided to work along with them” she added.

Although Kausalya says that “(a) change in mindset is required to stop honour killings”, she also warns young couples who have married outside their caste to be cautious. She says, “People who have had love marriages like me, should be as safe as possible. They should not be careless and they must expect the possibility of anything happening to them.” On that fateful day, the couple was coming out of a shop after purchasing a shirt for the up-coming annual day at Shankar's college. Shankar was murdered on the street. Stressing the precarious condition of a caste-ridden society, she feels that young couples “should not simply walk on the streets” carelessly.

“All India Democratic Women’s Association honoured me, Abhirami and other women for bravely fighting against this patriarchal and castiest system” said Kausalya. “Like me, even Abhirami has lost her husband. She is also fighting against this practice of honour killings” she adds. Like Kausalya, Abhirami also belongs to the Kallar caste. She had married a Dalit man, Marimuthu, with the support of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 2010. After a life of struggle in Chennai, and the birth of their daughter, Soundaraya, the couple returned to their village to live with Marimuthu’s family. However, just before Soundaraya’s first birthday, Marimuthu’s body was found hacked to pieces near the river. After confessing to the murder, Abhirami’s father and brother gave themselves up to the police.

On 4th of July 2013, a 19-year old Dalit boy, Ilavarasan, was found dead by the railway tracks in Dharmapuri. A year ago, on the 8th of October in 2012, Ilavarasan had married Divya, a girl from the powerful Vanniyar caste. Responding to this case, Kausalya says, “We have no news of Divya, where she is and what she is doing. So, to mobilise all the women who have been victims of honour killings, we need to create a force. But that is not going to be easy.” If such a force was made, however, she felt that it would be a very powerful one.

In the land of Dravidian politics which takes pride in its history of women's empowerment, why is blood being shed in the name of honour? We asked her this only to hear that the condition of women is bad, here and everywhere, as it is bound to be in a patriarchal society. She says, “If [it were] not for Periyar and others, I don’t know if the state of women would be even as much as it is today.”

Over the last one year, Kausalya has been recovering from the injuries she suffered after the attack. She has also received counselling to recover from the traumatic experience of being attacked and witnessing her husband's murder. Meanwhile, she has been fighting the case against her parents and relatives for the murder of her husband. At one stage, she had even attempted suicide. But now, she has entered the public sphere in her fight against a casteist society that was responsible for the death of Shankar.

After clearing the exam, Kausalya has now obtained a central government job in the Ministry of Defence. She considers Shankar’s grandmother, father and two younger brothers, her family.

Kausalya has taken to keeping her hair short and wearing jeans and T shirt. When asked why she changed her appearance, she said, “There is a societal view that women should project themselves in a certain way. I have changed the way I look and my hairstyle in defiance of these norms”.

With pride, she also says, “I am learning parai. I am also learning Karate”. She wants to popularise the drum-like instrument parai, associated with Dalits and other oppressed sections and make it acceptable for everyone. Kausalya has been invited to speak on Ambedkar Jayanthi at an event in Chennai. She considers being a part of events like these an important task. She said that, “Ambedkar struggled to annihilate caste. He fought for the downtrodden people, and strove to attain equality for all in society.”

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum
 

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