5 Feet of Fury

Hindu honor killings? (updated)

Phyllis Chesler writes:

I was also surprised to read about many Hindu honor killings because Hindu human rights activists, whom I had queried, hotly denied that Hindus ever commit honor/honour killings.  When I pressed one such gentleman, he insisted that “anyone who says Hindus do this is a Marxist or a Muslim troublemaker.”

Nevertheless, according to the Indian media, at least ten separate cases of suspected honor killings either took place—the bodies of 16 victims were discovered—or arrests were finally made in June 2010 alone. (…)

If Hindus also commit honor killings, then it is not merely a Muslim phenomenon and may be understood as related to the tribal customs of a Hindu-majority developing country such as India. On the other hand, wasn’t India also semi-colonized by Islam and doesn’t that battle continue? These recent Hindu honor killings all took place in the north of India, which is closer to Pakistan. Perhaps some Hindus learned this custom from Muslims. 

UPDATE:

Tell the truth—get in trouble. This always happens, there are no exceptions. And we wonder why so many people avoid telling the truth and why people can no longer recognize the truth when they see it? (…)

I told him that nowhere in my piece at Newsrealblog do I mention “Hinduism” as a key factor or as a factor at all in these honor killings. If anything, I present these killings as a tribal custom—not as a religious one. And, I pointed out, that the fact that goddesses are worshipped in Hinduism has not helped lower caste girls nor has it helped abolish the caste system. It certainly has not abolished honor killings either.  Or allowed every Indian girl and woman to choose her own husband.

As I said: If you tell the truth, peace flies out the window, acrimony ensues. If you force someone to look at their own behavior (or at the behavior of their co-religionists), you will get attacked if they do not like what they see.