Hindus, inter-caste marriages and honor killings

Inter-caste marriages are protected under Indian law, yet social attitudes remain largely resistant. In a 2006 survey cited in a United Nations report, 76% of respondents deemed the practice unacceptable. An overwhelming majority of Hindu couples continue to marry within their castes, and newspapers are filled with marital advertisements in which parents, seeking to arrange a marriage for a son or daughter, specify caste among lists of desired attributes like profession and educational achievement. In India, there has been a resurgence of "honor killings" against couples who breach Hindu marriage traditions. One young Indian woman, Nirupama Pathak, was actually killed by her own mother for wanting to marry a man from a lower Hindu caste. The phenomenon of honor killings is most prevalent in some northern states, especially Haryana, where village caste councils, or khap panchayats, often operate as an extralegal morals police force, issuing edicts against couples who marry outside their caste or who marry within the same village — considered a religious violation since villages are often regarded as extended families. Even as the court system has sought to curb these councils, politicians have hesitated, since the councils often control significant vote blocs in local elections. New cases of killings or harassment appear in the Indian news media almost every week. Recently, the police arrested three men for the honor killings of a couple in New Delhi who had married outside their castes, as well as the murder of a woman who eloped with a man from another caste. Two of the suspects are accused of murdering their sisters, and an uncle of the slain couple spoke of their murders as justifiable.