Visakhapatnam: Not only north India, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are also witnessing honour killings in rural and urban regions. The recent murder of 23-year-old Dalit Peramalla Pranay Kumar in Miryalaguda division of Nalgonda district in Telangana state has once again highlighted honour killings in the Telugu states. Most such killings are when the victims are in an inter-caste marriage or inter-caste relationship. However, most honour killings in both the Telugu states are not reported. Andhra Pradesh topped in honour killings in south India with two incidents in 2016 while Telangana occupied the top place in the southern region with 16 incidents in 2015 as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
The union home ministry says that 356 cases of honour killings were reported in the country between 2014 and 2016. Most honour killings were reported in Madhya Pradesh, 18, Uttar Pradesh, 16 and Gujarat, 10 in 2016.
The Home Ministry has advised all states about preventive, remedial and punitive measures to be implemented to address issues related to honour crimes.
On July 24, 2016, 20-year-old K Krishnaveni, a native of Kosigi area in Chittoor district was murdered by her parents as she loved a boy of another caste. Though Krishnaveni was married to her distant relative after family pressure, she was divorced by her husband after he discovered her love affair.
In what appears to be a case of honour killing, 27-year-old pregnant woman Y Vijayalakshmi was brutally murdered by her own family members in Hyderabad in August 2018. Vijayalakshmi fell in love with her neighbour Suresh from another caste, and married him about four years ago. Since her parents were against the marriage, the couple left the city soon after they married. Vijayalakshmi was in the seventh month of pregnancy when she was murdered.
In the past four years, around 25 honour killings have taken place in both the Telugu states and some incidents were not reported, say police officials.
Senior advocate and president for the forum of legal professionals, K Muralidhar said that India does not have a specific law to deal with honour killing, forcing police to charge suspects under IPC Section 302 (murder) whenever honour killings happen or Section 299 (culpable homicide). The Roop Kanwar incident in the country led to the introduction of the Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987. Similarly, government has to introduce a new act to deal with honour killings, he added
There was a recommendation from all stakeholders to bring in a strict law to prevent honour killings in the country, but so far nothing has done by successive governments at the Centre, says activist K Padma.
