The Supreme Court has yet again advocated death penalty to the perpetrators of honour killings. A Bench, comprising Justice Markandey Katju and Justice Gyan Sudha Misra, while dealing with the appeal of Bhagwan Dass, said that honour killings were on the rise and that they were a blot on the nation and that the perpetrators should be dealt with sternly by handing out the death penalty treating such cases as rarest of the rare cases. In the case on hand, Bhagwan Dass had killed his married daughter Seema for having deserted her husband Raju and entering into an incestuous relationship with her uncle Sriniwas. Writing the judgment, Justice Katju said, “This infuriated the appellant as he thought (that) this conduct of his daughter Seema had dishonoured his family and hence he strangulated her with an electric wire.” The trial court convicted him and the High Court upheld the judgment of the trial court. Justice Katju said the case on hand is of circumstantial evidence, but it is settled law that a person can be convicted on circumstantial evidence provided the links in the chain of circumstances connects the accused with the crime. “In this case, we are satisfied that the prosecution has been able to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt by establishing all the links in the chain of circumstances,” he felt. Justice Katju said, “In our country unfortunately, ‘honour killing’ has become commonplace. Many people feel that they are dishonoured by the behavior of the young man / woman, who is related to them or belonging to their caste because he / she is marrying against their wish”.
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