"Four Indians Sentenced to Death for Killing Sister and Husband Over Marriage to Lower Class and Family Honor Damage"

Four men sentenced to death for honor killing in India
Caste-based discrimination persists despite legal ban
About 5,000 to 20,000 honor killings estimated annually worldwide

Four men in India were sentenced to death for killing a woman and her husband, accusing them of tarnishing the family honor by marrying men from so-called lower castes.

Protests demanding the eradication of honor killings are taking place in Pakistan. Photo by Reuters and Yonhap News.

On the 1st (local time), Indian media including the daily Indian Express reported that the Gadag district court in Karnataka, southern India, sentenced four men including Sabapa Latod to death on charges including murder. They are accused of beating to death with blunt objects Gangamma Latod (23 at the time) and her husband Ramesh Madar (29) in a village in the Gadag district in November 2019.

Gangamma fell in love with Madar, an untouchable from the same neighborhood, in 2015 and married him despite opposition from both families. They lived in suburban areas such as Bengaluru, Karnataka. Gangamma worked as a garment factory employee, and Madar was known to work as a car driver to support their livelihood. Nearly four years after their marriage, in 2019, the couple with two children visited their hometown village to celebrate the Hindu festival 'Diwali,' expecting their families to accept the marriage, but they met this tragic fate.

According to India's caste system, most Indians are divided into Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Shudras, and untouchables in that order. India banned caste-based discrimination through its constitution in 1950, but inequality is still known to persist.

Honor killings are murders committed by family members on the grounds that someone has tarnished the family honor. It is reported that about 5,000 women lose their lives annually due to honor killings. About one-third of honor killing victims are from India and Pakistan. In February last year, a father in India was arrested for killing his daughter for dating a boy from a different caste. The father stated in police interrogation that he killed her "for fear of tarnishing my reputation."

Last month, in the United States, a man who had lived there for 25 years and then returned to Pakistan with his family killed his teenage daughter over dissatisfaction with her TikTok videos. The daughter used to post videos related to her clothing and lifestyle on TikTok, which the father opposed.

Such honor killings mainly occur in South Asia, including India, as well as in the Middle East and North Africa. Many cases remain unreported, and it is estimated that about 20,000 cases occur worldwide annually.