The economic system is controlling all other systems like political, social and educational systems, for which various gender-based crimes are prevailing in the society that also include the crime of honour killing, said law Minister Arun Sahoo while attending a State-level workshop on ‘Honour Killing: A Crime against Women’, organised by the National Alliance of Women, Odisha (NAWO) here on Tuesday.
The Minister advocated that besides formation and implementation of laws, mass awareness should be inculcated among the general public for prevention of such issues.
The atrocity of honour killing is not only prevalent in India but also in other countries like Canada, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the US and the UK. In India context, such practice is rampant in States, including Punjab, Haryana and West Uttar Pradesh and eventually spreading to Odisha, informed IG of Police Training, Police Academy SN Naren.
“While the Prevention of Crimes in the Name of Honour and Tradition Bill-2010 is pending yet, many cases of honour killing are lying unsettled at several places,” rued Naren.
For Odisha, the cases of honour killing are mostly left unreported. However, two to three cases of honour killing have been recently reported in the State, particularly in Ganjam district, said NAWO State Convenor Pramila Swain.The speakers highlighted various causes including inter-caste or inter-religion marriage, marriage in same Gotra, financial gap, being a rape victim, homosexual relations, refusal to arrange marriages, etc for the crime.
The speakers also recommended certain steps like driving large-scale awareness on the issue from grass-root level, appraising students about it through educational curriculum and formation of a separate stringent law to curb such practices and support and rehabilitation of the victims. Among others, Doordarshan Director Jayanti Rath, NAWO State coordinator lalita Missal and senior journalists Prafulla Das and Mrunalkanti Nanda spoke.