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| Confronting honour killing |
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Suhas Chakma
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While adoption of the Criminal Law
(Amendment) Bill 2004 against "honour killings" by
Pakistan's National Assembly on October 26, 2004, may
improve President Pervez Musharraf's image as a
reformist, in practice the Bill is unlikely to change
the plight of the victims of honour killings. The Bill
has failed to address impunity which encourages honour
killings. Just when the Bill was being presented in the
National Assembly, enraged villagers in rural Punjab
tied a couple to the railway tracks for marrying against
the will of their family elders, and were crushed under
the wheels of a speeding train.
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Hundreds of women are killed every year
for "bringing" dishonour for alleged misdemeanours such
as adultery, marrying without the family's consent,
pre-marital sex or having been raped. According to Ms
Neelofar Bakhtiar, adviser to the prime minister on
Women Development, as many as 913 women had been killed
in "honour- related crimes" in the country during the
year 2003 with 638 cases of honour crime committed in
Sindh, 463 in Punjab, 120 in the North West Frontier
Province and 40 in Balochistan. Pakistan Human Rights
Commission recorded honour killings of 329 women in
1998, 303 women in 1999, 315 women in 2000, 227 women in
2002 and 290 women in 2002, according to press reports.
But many incidents are not reported in newspapers and
the vast majority of the victims are from rural
areas.
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Apart from enhancing punishments for
honour crimes, the Criminal Law Amendment Act 2004 have
nothing new to it. Under the amended Section 299, Act
XLY of 1860 PPC, "honour crime" will mean an offence
committed in the name of "Ghairat" (honour) or for
"vindication of Ghairat and includes honour killing, and
the offence committed on the pretext of karo-kari,
siyah-kari or similar other customs". Under amended
Section 302, Act XLY of 1860, honour crimes carry a
maximum imprisonment of 25 years and a minimum of not
less than 10 years. Amended Sections 310 and 331 of the
PPC prohibit giving a girl in marriage as badla-i-sullah
and any offence under these sections carries the maximum
punishment of 14 years of imprisonment and a minimum of
not less than seven years.
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Amendment to Section 324 seeks to include
hurting of a victim as honour crime. Similarly Ta'zir
shall not be less than one-third of the maximum
imprisonment provided for the hurt caused and shall not
be less than half of such imprisonment term if the hurt
caused relates to honour crime.
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The Bill further provides that for
investigation of an offence under Section 295-C of PPC
for blasphemy, no officer below the rank of
superintendent of police will be eligible. An amendment
to Section 56B envisaged that no police officer below
the rank of superintendent of police shall investigate
the case of a woman accused of adultery.
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The root of the crisis is the parallel
justice system of criminal justice system inherited from
the British and the Sharia that exits in Pakistan. The
Qisas and Diyat laws, which cover all offences against
the human body, make offenses like honour crimes
compoundable (open to compromise as a private matter
between two parties) by providing for qisas
(retribution) or diyat (blood-money). The heirs of the
victim can forgive the murderer in the name of God
without receiving any compensation or diyat (Section
309), or compromise after receiving diyat (Section
310).
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Most honour killings are usually
committed by close relatives - father, brother, son or
husband of the woman. According to the Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan, those accused of honour killings
between 1998 and 2002 involved 462 persons who were
brothers, 395 husbands, 217 relatives, 103 fathers, 60
others, 58 sons and 44 unknown persons. The victims are
the most vulnerable members of the family or community.
In either case, if and when the case reaches a court of
law, the victim's family may pardon the murderer (who
may well be one among them) or be pressurised to accept
diyat (blood-money) as compensation. The murderer then
goes free. As the Criminal Law Amendment Bill 2004 does
not address the issue of waiving and compounding under
the Qisas and Diyat law, the perpetrators of honour
killing will continue to escape punishment.
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The Supreme Court of Pakistan in its
various judgements reiterated that "neither the law of
the land nor religion permits the so-called honour
killings and it amounts to intentional murder
(qatl-i-amd)" noting that "such iniquitous and vile"
acts violate the Fundamental Rights as enshrined in
Article 9 of the Constitution of Pakistan, which
provides that no person shall be deprived of life or
liberty except in accordance with the law. Article 8 of
the Constitution provides that "Any law or custom or
usage having the force of law, in so far as it is
inconsistent with the rights conferred by this Chapter
(Fundamental Rights), shall, to the extent of such
inconsistency, be void".
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The failure to uphold the right to life
guaranteed under the Constitution of Pakistan is at the
heart of the crisis, and not due to lack of provisions
in the Pakistan Penal Code to combat honour killings.
Unless the Senate takes measures to amend the Criminal
Law Amendment Bill 2004 to ensure that the State takes
the responsibility for registering, investigating and
prosecuting the accused of honour killings without any
scope for waiver or compounding under the Qisas and
Diyat law, cosmetic gesture will not be able to curb
cultural cruelties.
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