As instances of “honour killings” are reported with alarming — and increasing — regularity across the country, a research paper to be presented at an international conference in London by some Indian jurists on crimes against women next week suggests that the total number of such killings could be well over 1,000 every year in India.

The research paper titled “Social-legal perspective of forced marriages”, prepared by Chandigarh-based senior lawyer Ranjit Malhotra, an alumnus of the University of London and dealing with cases of intercontinental marital disputes and custody of children, says that at least “900 incidences of honour killings” take place in three states alone — Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh — every year.
It will be presented in an international conference on forced marriages and abduction of children to be held in London from June 30 to July 2. Though the National Crime Records Bureau does not collect separate data on “honour killi-ngs”, a number of such incidents are linked to “forced marriages”, which appear to be one of the major causes for this heinous crime.
A large number of “honour killing” cases, however, go unreported as members of the family or the clan involved try to pass them off as natural deaths, says Mr Malhotra, who says he has done an extensive study on the subject. If another 100-300 cases are added to this figure for the other states, on which data still remains sketchy, the total number of “honour killi-ngs” in the country could go well beyond 1,000 every year, the paper says, addi-ng: “The total figure for India thus would be the same as that estimated for Pakistan, which, research-ers suggest, has the highest per capita incidence of honour killings in the world.”