“In our opinion honour killings, for whatever reason, come within the category of rarest of rare cases deserving death punishment. It is time to stamp out these barbaric, feudal practices which are a slur on our nation”, said the apex court bench of Justice Markandey Katju and Justice Gyan Sudha Misra in their judgment.
The bench while dismissing an appeal filed by one Bhagawan Dass challenging the life imprisonment awarded to him by a Delhi Sessions Court for such a crime said that “they are nothing but barbaric and brutal murders by bigoted persons with feudal minds.” The bench said, it is time to stamp out these barbaric, feudal practices which are a slur on our nation. The court said, this is necessary as a deterrent for such outrageous, uncivilized behaviour. It said, all persons who are planning to perpetrate ‘honour’ killings should know that the gallows await them.
“There was nothing honourable in honour killings”, the judgment said. “Often young couples who fall in love have to seek shelter in the police lines or protection homes, to avoid the wrath of kangaroo courts”, the court pointed out.
Starting his judgment with a couplet from the renowned poet Mirza Ghalib which read “Hai maujazan ek kulzum-e-khoon kaash yahi ho, Aataa hai abhi dekhiye kya kya mere aage” Justice Katju said “This is yet another case of gruesome honour killing, this time by the accused-appellant of his own daughter.”
The court said that ‘honour’ killings have become commonplace in many parts of the country, particularly in Haryana, western U.P., and Rajasthan.
“If someone is not happy with the behaviour of his daughter or other person, who is his relation or of his caste, the maximum he can do is to cut off social relations with her/him, but he cannot take the law into his own hands by committing violence or giving threats of violence”, the judgment read.
While upholding the death sentence awarded to Bhagwan Dass who was convicted for killing his daughter who had left her husband Raju and was living in an adulterous and incestuous relationship with her uncle (her father’s cousin), and this obviously made him very hostile to his daughter whom he killed in order to redeem his honour, the bench said ‘both the trial court and High Court have given very cogent reasons for convicting the appellant, and we see no reason to disagree with their verdicts’.
The court directed the apex court registry to send the copy of the judgment to the Registrar Generals/Registrars of all the High Courts who shall circulate the same to all Judges of the Courts. The Registrar General/Registrars of the High Courts will also circulate copies of the same to all the Sessions Judges/Additional Sessions Judges in the State/Union Territories.