New Delhi: Jharkhand has emerged as the state that has the highest number of so-called honour killings in the year 2023, followed by Haryana, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau report.
Jharkhand, in 2023, has recorded nine cases of honour killing, followed by Haryana with six cases. While MP and Punjab each recorded five cases in 2023, four cases were registered in Uttar Pradesh.
The NCRB report indicates that cases of so-called honour killing are concentrated in a few states — Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, and Karnataka account for about 58 per cent of the total 38 honour killing cases reported in the country in 2023.
Jharkhand tops
Jharkhand witnessed four, eight, and four cases in 2020, 2021, and 2022, and nine more in 2023, the report shows.
When ThePrint reached out to Director General of Police (DGP) of Jharkhand Anurag Gupta, he said honour killings cannot happen in the state since it has a significant tribal population.
“In tribal communities there, women are treated with respect, how can this happen here,” the DGP said.
Between 2020 and 2023, Punjab ranked second in the number of so-called honour-killing cases: 21, while Madhya Pradesh is third, with 19 deaths.
Haryana, infamous for honour killing crime, reported four cases each in 2020 and 2021, but zero cases in 2022. The following year, it reported six such cases.
During the four-year period (2020-2023), northern and central Indian states reported the most number of cases. While there were no cases recorded in UTs in 2022, Chandigarh reported one case in 2023.
In August this year in Jharkhand, 21-year-old Vibha Kumari and her boyfriend Subhash Kumar, 22, were killed by the woman’s parents in what police suspected as an “honour killing”.
In February this year, a student of Class 12, Nibha Pandey, was killed by her father and brothers in Koderma. She was beheaded before getting buried in sand along a river bank. The police said that it was a case of honour killing.
Writer and activist Aloka Kujur, who has been working in Jharkhand, said, “Since 2014, the number of honour killings has increased in the state. In Jharkhand, honour killings happen with respect to caste and class, not religion,” she said.
“Since some tribal families have risen in class, few killings have happened among the community, but Adivasis do not consider it as honour killing,” she added.
The latest report also shows that Jharkhand constantly features in the list of top ten states when it comes to murders. The state has recorded more than 1,400 such cases between 2021 and 2023.
Uttar Pradesh has recorded the highest number of murder cases in these three years from 2021 to 2023. Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra have been in the top five states.
However, the number of murder cases nationally have witnessed a decline, from 29,272 in 2021 to 27,721 in 2023.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)
Even though it has decreased, it’s still bad that these patriarchal mindset exists in the corners of the society.
This mindset of so called “honor” is the most stupidest thing I have heard about. This is why education needs to be holistic in these places.