Teenager’s beheading spurs calls for new law against ‘honour killings’

Father claims he killed his daughter over her relationship with a man

Police in northern India said on Thursday they had arrested a man who beheaded his daughter and carried her severed head to the village police station, a case that spurred calls for a new law against socalled honour killings.

The man told police he had attacked his 17-yearold daughter with an axe on Wednesday in anger over her relationship with a man.

“He said he saw his daughter in a compromising position with a man and he beheaded her in a fit of rage,” Anurag Vats, police superintendent of Hardoi district in Uttar Pradesh state, said. “He has confessed to his crime,” he said.

Images of the man carrying the girl’s head were shared widely on social media, reigniting demands from women’s campaigners for a specific law against honour killings to help protect potential victims and improve police investigations.

Human rights groups say thousands of women and girls are killed across South Asia each year by family members angered at perceived damage to their “honour”.

Perceived offences can include eloping, fraternising with men or any transgression of conservative values regarding women. Last month, a woman was burnt alive by family members over an inter-faith relationship in Uttar Pradesh, local media reported, quoting police.

“Daughters in India are seen as a sign of family honour, which results in such crimes,” said Madhu Garg, vice-president of All India Democratic Women Association’s Uttar Pradesh chapter.

“The issue of the right to choice needs immediate attention and a separate law should be made for dealing with honour killing,” she added.

India recorded 24 honour killings in 2019, with Uttar Pradesh accounting for no cases. Two years earlier, the state registered 14 of the country’s 92 such killings, recent government crime data shows.

Campaigners say government statistics on honour killing mask the scale of the crime.