HC seeks report on caste murders

Hyderabad: The High Court directed Director-General of Police M. Mahendar Reddy to give information about the cases registered related to so-called ‘honour killings’, a reference to the murder of youth based on caste.

The order was passed by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice Shameem Akhter which was dealing with a public interest litigation filed by social activist U. Sambasiva Rao alleging that 36 such murders had taken place. The police had only filed defective chargesheets but had not done much in investigating the cases, he said.

Reminding that there are no provision in the IPC to deal with such murders, the bench asked the petitioner how he could allege that the police was neglecting such cases.

Mr Raghunath, counsel for the petitioner, informed the court that the grievance was that the state government and the police were silent towards the guidelines issued by the apex court in 2018, to deal with disputes raised out of inter-caste marriages and to curb violence.

Justice Chauhan asked the government what steps it has taken to contain killing based on caste, because out of the 36 incidents listed by the state, only 20 had been investigated and chargesheets filed under IPC Section 302.

“This court wants to know whether the Telangana state government has initiated implementation of the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court to prevent honour killings,” asked the Chief Justice.

According to the apex court guidelines the police has to identify villages or areas where people gather in groups and discuss inter-caste marriages. It has to identify khap panchayats which take drastic decisions to kill couples hailing from different castes and whether preventive measures had been taken.