Today I cached up upon Satyamev Jayate episode I missed after coming back to US. This time it was about Honor Killings. First of all, honor killing sounds like an oxymoron. What kind of honor there will be in killing. Secondly, the issue of honor killing is about killing the couples who get married in a situation deemed undesirable for their families. So the family members end up killing those couples or one of them. Where is the honor in killing your own flesh and blood. All the stories featured on the show were extremely emotional and horrible. Some of the couples were lucky to be alive but still living in fear. Some of them got the worst of it. Then they had people from Harayanvai Khap panchayat to understand, what sort of Panchyata law is involved and if there is any legal right to the panchayats to carry on such practices (need not be killing but giving the decision whether the man and the woman can marry each other). It was all very backwards and in 21st century when APJ Abdul Kalam wants India to be superpower, what sort of social norms are we still thinking about and following?

I thought love conquers all. As long as they are mutually consenting adults; who is society and for that matter even close family to object and pass judgement. As the person from "Love Brigade" pointed out, it's about keeping the woman under the man's rule. If we let the women choose whom they marry; this extremely strong power just slips away. In fact the whole notion of marriage and the patriarchal system is about keeping the woman under the thumb. I am not for patriarchy but I can understand the system up to a certain limit but deciding who will live and die is not the desired outcome of such system.

Where are we going? What path are we following as a nation? We boast so much about The Indian Culture, Indian Values; where are these values when it comes to honor killings and shunning and rapes and female foeticide? I am so ashamed of my country right now. One would hope that these social issues will weed away over the period of time but it looks that they are becoming more and more common. And when will the society change? And when will the people/families of those couples will think? Just because someone is not following the so called tradition, kill him? And who decides what's the tradition anyways? It's just makes me extremely sad to think that  in a country that boasts to be one of the eldest civilizations in the world, people have forgotten how to be civilized. 

Someone would say nobody can do anything about it. But of course they can. We can start with our own families and communities and change their perspective. It will be a very long process but nonetheless we have to try. And of course government and legal system should make the sentences harsher and implement them. The perpetrators of these crime should dealt with a very strong hand. The legal system should make it a point that such crimes will not be tolerated. 

I hope the programs such as Satyamev Jayate will bring awareness about these issues and if it can change life of at least one person; I would say we are on right track.