India records huge spike in ‘honor killings’ in 2015
NEW DELHI — India has registered nearly an 800 percent spike in the number of so-called honor killings reported last year, leading state officials and women’s rights groups to urge investigations into how such crimes persist.
Indian police registered 251 cases of honor killing in 2015, compared with just 28 a year earlier when India began counting them separately from murder, according to a statement this week by Junior Home Minister Hansraj Ahir to India’s parliament.
Women’s rights activists say the government must pass legislation to recognize the crime as unique in order to target perpetrators for prosecution.
Honor killings are still common enough among Hindus and Muslims to regularly make newspaper headlines in a country where most marriages are arranged by families.