The Silent War: Patriarchy, Caste-System and Honour Killings in Western Uttar Pradesh

In August 2024, a 16-year-old girl was killed publicly by her brother over a ‘love affair’ in UP’s Meerut. Police said that the victim had been having an affair with a man who hailed from a different community and insisted on marrying him despite objections from her family.

A similar but more gruesome act was done in September 2024. Naeem spotted his daughter in conversation with her boyfriend, due to which he lost his temper and killed her outside their residence. He continued to sit beside his daughter’s corpse after ending her life.

Uttar Pradesh has reported the highest number of honour killings and love-affair-related murder cases. Apart from honour killing, a love affair was another major motive for murder in UP. As per NCRB data, Uttar Pradesh has reported the highest number of murders: 4,732, followed by Bihar (3,178), Maharashtra (2,509), and West Bengal (2,096). There may be nothing honourable about honour killings, but the shocking increase in such incidents in UP has left the police and social activists wondering about the reasons for the shocking increase in such incidents.

“The main reason for such a steep jump in statistics is that people have started reporting such crimes now. Earlier, it was usually brushed aside as just another murder,” says Madhu Garg, the state general secretary of the All India Democratic Women’s Association.

Honour killings are the killings of couples who challenge caste endogamy (marriage within caste) and gotra exogamy (marriage outside gotra) in India. As sociologist V. Gitan (2007) writes, “The burden of caste discipline falls primarily on women.” Women of all castes are victims of this violence, but Dalit, backward, and Muslim women in particular suffer a double whammy—one of patriarchy and the other of caste or community.

The most disturbing dimension of honour-based violence: women, who are originally the victims of patriarchy, become agents of it. Through deep-rooted socialisation, they internalise the same oppressive structures and sometimes become perpetrators themselves.

Women from dominant castes often support or carry out honour killings because of lifelong socialisation that tells them they are the protectors of “family izzat”. They enforce marriage decisions, dissuade daughters from love marriages, and sometimes even act as enablers of murders. [Observation from the field (JMC Review, 2022)]

Violence against women’s autonomy, in all matters and especially in matters of sexuality and marriage, is one of India’s most widespread and tenacious forms of gender violence—and also the least recognised. It is a form of violence that hides in plain sight. Violence (against men and women both) to prevent a woman from exercising her choice in love and marriage is not properly documented, since India does not have a specific law against “honour” crimes. To spot such violence and confront it, you need to look beneath the surface and read between the lines of available documentation.

It is clear that a wide range of measures are needed to effectively combat patriarchal crimes against love and against women’s autonomy in India.

The society and the government have accepted that the menace of honour killing exists. “This is perhaps the first step towards dealing with the problem—that people have started to accept that it is a problem in the first place. For instance, NCRB had no separate head for listing honour killings, but today it does.”

Violence aimed at curbing women’s independence—particularly in areas like sexuality and marriage—is among the most pervasive and deeply rooted forms of gender-based violence in India, yet it remains one of the least acknowledged. This type of abuse often goes unnoticed, concealed in everyday norms and cultural practices. Efforts to restrict women’s choices in love and marriage—affecting both men and women—are rarely recorded accurately, largely because India lacks a specific legal framework to address “honour” crimes. Identifying and addressing such violence requires a critical eye and careful interpretation of existing records.

There is a pressing need for comprehensive strategies to counter these patriarchal crimes that target love and women’s autonomy.

The former state police chief Javed Ahmed said to The Times of India in 2016 that honour killing is a social crime. He believes stringent police action in such cases would act as a deterrent in curbing it to some extent. “But largely, it is about creating awareness among the people that such killings are not a solution to the complexities of the social surroundings.”

Women’s rights groups have long advocated for legislation specifically addressing honour-based violence, similar to laws already enacted in Pakistan. They also highlight that the United Nations has urged countries to adopt such laws.

A critical reform in India would be to eliminate the provision in the Special Marriage Act that mandates couples to publicly announce their intention to marry a month in advance. This requirement often becomes an opportunity for families or politically driven groups to intervene violently and halt the marriage.

Today, women across India are not just fighting against these honour killings but also resisting any form of control placed on adult women’s freedom, movement, or decisions—no matter the justification. However, this battle has become increasingly difficult, especially as current political powers actively promote both ideological and physical repression of women’s autonomy.

Author: Md. Kaif Ansari

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