Stringent laws needed against honour crimes: Brinda Karat

“Efforts were made to even amend the Special Marriage Act”

January 29, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 05:44 am IST - PUDUKOTTAI:

Communist Party of India (Marxist) Politbureau member Brinda Karat having a word with a woman who had lost her husband in a case of honour killing, at a conference in Pudukottai on Wednesday.— Photo: A. Muralitharan

Communist Party of India (Marxist) Politbureau member Brinda Karat having a word with a woman who had lost her husband in a case of honour killing, at a conference in Pudukottai on Wednesday.— Photo: A. Muralitharan

There was a need for a strong law to check honour crimes, which were on the rise in different parts of the country, said Brinda Karat, Politbureau Member, Communist Party of India (Marxist), here on Wednesday.

Although honour crimes were on the rise, there was no law against it yet.

A separate law against honour crimes was an urgent demand which the CPI (M) had been raising on different fora, including Parliament, Ms. Brinda said speaking at a conference organised by the party against honour killings here.

Calling for a strong law against honour crimes, she said it should contain provision to initiate action against police personnel who connived with those who wanted to destroy the lives of the young couples.

Political parties and fundamentalist forces had conspired in not enacting a law against honour crimes, she said.

Without attacking the caste system and eliminating caste, it was impossible to think of socialist dream in the country. She accused the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh of using religion to divide society.

The BJP-ruled States had tried to amend the Special Marriage Act to make it difficult for young couples to marry under the Act.

In Tamil Nadu and many other States, there were self-proclaimed bodies which decide how people should live.

Stating that Communists believed in socialism and radical transformation of society, Ms. Brinda said the Left parties would never compromise when it came to protecting and defending the rights of individuals. It was essential to fight that brand of politics which sacrifices democracy for narrow goals, she said.

Earlier, in a brief interaction with reporters, Ms. Brinda said the Narendra Modi government had shown in the six months of its rule that it was a government for the corporates. It was a shame that the Modi government had cut allocation to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme depriving crores of families dependent on the scheme.

She accused the Centre of cutting down allocation of foodgrains which would badly affect several States.

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