Decision comes after many couples, who married in same gotra, were killed under khaps’ pressure.
The Centre is all set to bring in a law to curb honour killing in view of the rising incidence of such crimes, particularly at the instance of khaps (caste panchayats) and in cases of same-gotra marriages. A bill to include new provisions in IPC and CrPc is likely to be tabled in the budget session of parliament beginning February 22.
The decision taken by the government after much dithering comes after the law ministry submitted a “favourable” report.
Given the politically sensitive nature of caste panchayats, the UPA dispensation was earlier afraid of the move backfiring and hurting its support base.
The home ministry was sceptical about implementing such a law, given the social structure of caste panchayats and the community support they enjoy. The law commission reportedly submitted a detailed report to the ministry citing that the law could be implemented.
To corner caste panchayats, which have become a law-unto-themselves, particularly in north India, the proposed legislation seeks to broaden the definition of murder to bring such bodies under its ambit. The definition would be clarified with the addition of a clause in IPC to fix the responsibility on such organisations.
A home ministry official said any act resulting in the killing of an individual or a couple for allegedly bringing dishonour to a community would amount to murder. “In such a case, all members of a panchayat will be deemed guilty,” he said.
The bill also seeks to defang panchayats and prevent them from taking arbitrary decisions. For this purpose, a provision is being made in the legislation by which the onus of proving innocence would be shifted to the accused.
The proposal also includes amending the Marriage Act to reduce or do away with the 30-day registration period. “Personally, I am in favour of doing away with this period to make the system smoother. But an option to reduce it has also been proposed,” law minister M Veerappa Moily said.
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