Marry right or die

In the second honour killing of the month, Delhi-based journalist Nirupama Pathak's mother Sudha was arrested for smothering the 24-year-old to death. The question is how could a middle class family kill its own flesh and blood for merely wanting to marry outside the caste. And why do the honour killings usually occur in urban areas? Does the middle class have a medieval mindset?
In recent cases like Nitish Katara's murder and Rizwanur Rahman's supposed to be suicide, the families did not accept inter-caste and inter-religion marriages. The result was death. A Jat boy from Bahadurgarh, Haryana was forced to separate from the girl he wanted to marry. He is still hiding in Delhi under police protection. In 2008, a Jharkhand couple (belonging to the same Barda gotra) were chained in a room for a week. Their genitals were burnt. In 2009, Neelam was killed by relatives in Rajasthan in an honour killing case. The maha panchyat protested against the arrested of the killers.
The problem needs to be addressed at its roots. The alarming spate of honour killings and how the couple are clinically dealt with are frightening. We come across as people with an extra thick hide: nothing can affect us anymore. Te neighbours, friends and the whole community get involved in the killing. The mob mentality respects no individual.
Is there a solution to the growing problem? Should the situation be so dismal for the young generation?
Family plays a decisive role in an individual's life. Loyalty to clan and caste is surely demanded. It is a calamity if the young fall in love and marry outside caste or religion. That is going against family diktat. This is a transitional phase in India. The country is changing at a different pace at different places. There is conflict between value systems. People are caught in the vortex of conflicts. The victims are mostly women because they still are the property of males irrespective of caste, ethnic or religious group.
Such attitude often forces society and even the authorities to refuse protection to the victims. Often the issues get murkier with no chance of solution. The time has come for us to enact a law that will punish such heinous crimes severely. These cases can't be treated as simple cases of suicide or murder.