Protesting against the spate of “honour killings” across the country, youth group “The Human Rescue Team” discussed the cases it has handled so far to help victims of this heinous crime and raised questions challenging the existence of these killings.
The Human Rescue Team launched a helpline a few days ago with the support of individuals from AIIMS, Indian Institutes of Technology, Jawaharlal Nehru University and many other universities and groups across the country.
Speaking at a press conference organised at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences on Sunday, Dr. Ashu Kumar, coordinator of the group, said “these [killings] are spreading like an epidemic”.
Talking about same gotra marriages being forbidden in Hindu scriptures being cited as the reason behind these killings, Dr. Ashu said, “ Vedas do not mention prejudice of gotra anywhere, except the Rigveda that mentions gotras with respect to the rishis who spoke respective chapters regarding their specific progeny. However, there is no written proof of samgotra marriage prohibition,” he said. He cited some of the cases that the group has solved through its helpline. In one of the cases, a couple's life was threatened by the husband's family members after one and a half years of their being married. The team made a visit to village Sikandarpur (Kakauri) in Ghaziabad, and found that the situation was a conspiracy of village politics and police, made worse by cultural ignorance of the villagers.
He said his team used the theories of neo-informatics to achieve the success it has so far, and also that he hoped to continue the fight against these brutalities.
The initial helpline numbers are 09891082658, 09015216082, 09650537374 and email : aiims.ashu@gmail.com.
