Marriage vow

India needs to make a marriage vow. It must pro-actively ensure that its citizens are given the freedom to marry whom they wish, without fear of retribution. This of course is a constitutionally provided right but everywhere, and more specifically in north India8217;s hinterland, couples are hounded, hunted down, tortured, even killed 8212; by family members, neighbours, community leaders 8212; for daring to marry across caste boundaries. It is a crime that dishonours the country but goes by the term 8216;honour killings8217;.

The Supreme Court needs to be commended for stating its unequivocal and eloquent opposition to such barbarism. It has correctly underlined the connections between the continuing perfidy of the caste system and the norms, rituals and lines of separation that mark the marriage system. But its prescription, while on the right lines, requires to be fleshed out. The fact is that incidents like 8216;honour killings8217; occur in a universe impervious to constitutional norms and obligations. The iron rule of the caste panchayat is unfettered by any countervailing authority. The apex court may well tell the police and administration to ensure that adult couples who enter into marriage are not harassed, but the local police and administration are very much part of local hierarchies. Any reform of the system, then, should start at the local thana.

There are other obstacles too. Normally such crimes have the consensus of the entire community. It is therefore extremely difficult to get witnesses or garner the required evidence for purposes of prosecution, given the manifest non-cooperation at the community level. The high level of acquittals in cases of this kind is proof enough of the difficulties in ensuring that exemplary punishment is meted out to the killers and torturers. That, however, should not discourage necessary and urgent reform. The state should also outlaw those decisions of the caste panchayats that violate civilised canons and punish those pronouncing them. We need to adopt an approach of zero tolerance for such caste-fuelled criminality.