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Khap bill hits legal hurdle in Cabinet PM Refers Bill To GoM To Explore A Separate Law Against Honour Killings Dhananjay Mahapatra | TNN New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Thursday referred a standalone law to deal with “honour killings” to a group of ministers, after several members found fault with the proposal to amend the existing law to deal with the menace. The GoM will submit its recommendation after getting inputs from states in the next 3-4 weeks so that a bill designed to deter “honour killings” can be introduced, as planned, in Parliament during the month-long monsoon session beginning on July 26. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided to refer it to a GoM after several ministers questioned the efficacy of the home ministry-drafted bill, which proposed slapping murder charges on all those participting in khap panchayats’ decisions to kill couples marrying against social norms. The objections raised by ministers with sound legal background were not about the desirability of treating connivance and support for khap’s sanction for “honour killings” as murder, liable to be punished with death penalty. The resistance was more because of doubts that the objective could be best served by amending Section 300 of IPC to include participation in khap’s calls for “honour killings” as an additional criterion of what constitutes murder. Members of the Cabinet like HRD minister Kapil Sibal, highways minister Kamal Nath and sports minister M S Gill expressed doubts that the proposal in the draft Indian Penal Code and Certain Other Laws (Amendment) Bill was the best way to go about the task. However, as the PM acknowledged the need for wider consultation and decided to send the matter to a GoM, his colleagues like information minister Ambika Soni, urban development minister Jaipal Reddy stresssed that government could not afford to be seen as doing nothing in response to a problem that has, while revulsing many sections, threatened to become a trend and could inspire copycat crimes. The emphasis was necessary in view of the impression, generated by support for and ambivalence over “honour killings” by those like Congress MP Navin Jindal, that sections of the political class may be sympathetic of khaps viewing inter-caste and intragotra marriages as “dishonour” to the community. In the meeting of the Cabinet, ministers with a legal background, like Sibal, questioned the desirability of the home ministry’s proposal to add “fifthly” clause to Section 300 saying that the most it could achieve was to make the participants in a “honour killing” decision liable as conspirators or abettors of the murder. Gill termed it as impractical, Kamal Nath said all options needed to be explored and the approach should be cautious, pointing out that while people may turn out for a meeting of the caste panchayat, they may not have any role in the decision taken by the body. Why not make a law that would punish a politician if he participated in khap panchayats or supported their views — was one of the arguments that was put up during the discussions to drive home the point on the “political will of the state governments” to deal with the social evil. Advertisement ------------------------------------ ---- INFORMATION OVERLOAD? Get all ZESTCaste mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to zestmedia-dig...@yahoogroups.com, OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/ PARTICIPATE:- On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP:- If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank mail to zestcaste-subscr...@yahoogroups.com OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join/ Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: zestcaste-dig...@yahoogroups.com zestcaste-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: zestcaste-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/