India is a land of contrasts. On one side you see a posh American model mall and just a stone’s throw away you may come across a slum with thousands of people craving for a square meal and basic facilities.

When a few enjoy quality education, several children are deprived of primary schooling. As the powerful and influential enjoy undue police protection, public facilities for the poor and underprivileged are overlooked. The “majority” community utilizes parks and roads for their religious purposes while the minority communities are denied permission to conduct a weekly two-hour worship service, all in the name of “public nuisance.” World class metro rail services are provided in mega cities; in neighboring villages, 25 to 30 people travel in and on top of autorikshaws that were built to seat 5 or 7 persons.

Young pair of lovers roams around and enjoy each other’s presence in parks and streets of Delhi until midnight; across the border in Haryana, a girl and boy of same tribe or village are killed for the sake of maintaining the honour of their families. “Honour killing” has become rampant and even the government doesn’t want to touch the ‘sentiments’ of these murderous people. Neither God nor the constitution of India allows anyone to take another’s life. Any type of killing is murder. Afterall, killing people is not an acceptable solution to any problem. When we have a well set up judiciary in India how can someone take the law in their hands and enjoy impunity from crimes?

It will be appropriate to see the details of honour killings that happened in Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. “Only whores choose their own partners…. Recently an educated couple married against the samaj’s (community’s) wishes in Jhajjar. We hail the panchayat’s decision to execute them…The government cannot protect this atyachar (immoral behaviour)…. (The law of the land) is the root of all problems… That’s your Constitution, ours is different.” – these are the words of Mahendra Singh Tikait, a farmers’ leader of Western UP.

The whole Jat village of Balla in Haryana, a couple of hours drive from the national capital of New Delhi, is proud of the “honour killing” of a young couple. It was a ghastly killing. 21-year-old Sunitha who was three weeks pregnant and her 22-year-old husband Jasbir Singh were strangled to death recently. Their bodies, half-stripped, were laid out on dirt outside Sunita’s father’s house for all to see, a sign that the family’s “honour” had been restored by her cold-blooded relatives!

A 17-year-old girl in Pinana village who was a student of Class XI had on August 30 eloped with one Naveen and his three friends. She returned home the following day. Her father, in the meantime, had lodged a police case against the youths accusing them of kidnapping his daughter. A day later, her uncle shot on her dead in cold blood. Later, he with the help of three other men cremated her body.

In a case of suspected honour killing, Anil (22) and Rani (17) of Balhamba village in Rohtak district were murdered on August 5 after they were allegedly found in a compromising position.

A 21-year-old man Ved Pal Mor was lynched to death by a mob of 400 villagers in Jind district’s Singhwal village for marrying against the wishes of his community.

A teenager was burned to death at her home in Ghaziabad. This was an “honour killing” done by her neighbours. Four residents of her village allegedly set the 16-year-old Muslim girl alight after they suspected her of being in a relationship with a boy.

Bodies of young lovers were found hanging from a tree with injury marks on their knees at a village in Jhajjar district and police suspect it is a case of honour killing. These lovers had eloped from their houses in Subana village a few days ago and a complaint was registered against 22-year-old Sandeep on August 5 in Jhajjar.

Yet another horrendous incident revealed how honour killings in the state of Haryana an boomerang. A sense of outrage has gripped the Kaboolpur village of Rohtak district where a teenage girl in collusion with her lover allegedly murdered seven members of her family on September 14. The family had opposed the lovers because they belonged to the same tribe (‘gotra’).

“Every action has an equal and an opposite reaction”. Those who sow murder will reap murder. What will be left of us if we all start killing each other. No killing is honourable! Let us do all it takes to stop these dishonourable killings.