Chennai: A bill titled ‘The Freedom of Marriage and Association and Prohibition of Crimes in the Name of Honour Act 2022’ was submitted to Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K Stalin on Tuesday.
A founder-director of the Madurai- based rights organisation ‘Evidence’, Kathir met the Tamil Nadu chief minister on 27 September and handed over a draft of a bill seeking to end honour killings. The bill was drafted by the Dalit Human Rights defender network headed by Kathir.
According to Khatir, the bill would be the first of its sort in the nation if it were to pass in Tamil Nadu. Even though the bill is meant to be implemented as a national statute, Kathir notes that simply creating a precedent in Tamil Nadu will have a significant impact.
“Tamil Nadu sees an alarming level of ‘honour’ killing incidents among the southern states, so the government must take urgent action in the matter,” Kathir said.
With regard to caste, faith, age, gender, sexual orientation, language, class, race, status, and tradition, the bill aims to “give justice, restitution, and rehabilitation in crimes perpetrated in the name of honour.” The bill goes into great length regarding the different types of victimisation that might take place in the name of honour, as well as the kinds of monitoring and compensating procedures that must be put in place.
These are aspects that are not covered in the only other ‘honour’ killing bill to have been passed in the country in 2019 by the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly.
There are some elements that other honour killing legislation was not approved by the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly in 2019.
“Three-page measure that does not understand the topic in depth,” is how Kathir describes the Rajasthan bill. Activists had criticised several problems at the time, including the 2019 bill’s omission of the parents as intercommunity couples’ threats, according to the Indian Express.
Furthermore, there is no provision in the 2019 draught for couples to register a threat against them so that an injunction can be granted against the party making the threat. Both of these issues are explicitly addressed in the bill that the Dalit Human Rights Defenders Network has created.
In addition to the Prevention of Atrocities Against Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes Act, Kathir emphasises the necessity for a similar bill. Since the victims of intercaste marriages are also members of a dominant caste, their slayings would only be reported under the IPC.
However, there must be a rule that recognises this when caste pride is the driving force behind the crime. Second, patriarchy denies women the freedom to select their partners or penalises them for doing so. Both of these things are taken into account in the bill. It’s interesting to note that the bill aims to safeguard anyone in a relationship, not just married couples, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, class, religion, or caste.
Kathir also says that the CM has assured them that he will consider the bill.
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