Honour killing is the heinous act performed by self acclaimed and self appointed protectors of the society. Victims of honour killings are mostly women, who are considered to have brought shame, wrong traditions and practices to the family. Common terms that may be used for ‘honour killing’ are ‘customary killing’, ‘domestic violence’, ‘family murders’ and a form of ‘terrorism’. Violence in the name of honour occurs all over the world and women are the soft targets internationally. Countries where honour killings occur are India, Pakistan, Middle – East countries, Latin America, United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Turkey, Canada and U.S.A. etc. India, where about one fifth of the total honour killings take place, tops the list. In India states like Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh witness maximum female foeticides and female infanticides.
Ways and means of honour killings vary and range from burning alive, poisoning, murdering with axe, starving until death shooting to forced suicide. The act of killing is usually performed by husband, father, brother, Khap Panchayats, Jirgas or hired men. Causes of honour killings are trivial like choosing a marriage or sex partner of one’s choice, divorcing an abusive husband, getting raped, being politically active, indecently dressing up or jealousy. Association of the criminal behavior of killing under pretext of honour with anti-social personality disorder remains debatable. And, if they are psychopaths they should be attended by mental health care providers. Interesting fact about the perpetrators is that they commit crimes or murders without any remorse. They usually escape from punishment under the cover of religion. In a civilized society, there is no place for murdering others based on preconceived ideas. This issue should be addressed by way of making and enforcing laws, gathering public supportandpoliticalwill.

Keywords: Honour – Crime; Crime for Passion; Honour Based Violence; Khap – Panchayat.