Suicide or Honour Killing?

A teenage girl died in Ganjam, Orissa last month. A story came out in the local paper that it was an "honour killing" (i.e. when someone is killed by their own family members for bringing shame and dishonour on the family). The girl, who was in tenth standard (14 or 15 years old), was reportedly seeing a boy that the family disapproved of. My boss and colleague, who coordinate the Orissa-arm of the 'We Can' campaign to end violence against women, went to the village to investigate what happened, along with two members of the National Alliance of Women. They spoke with the family, community members, police and doctor.

Details from the fact-finding team:

The girl's parents first reported that she died during suddenly the night from diarrhoea. Her family members were taking her body to the jungle to be cremated. It is the custom in Hindu tradition for family members to carry the dead body wrapped in a sheet on a wooden stretcher to the cremation ground. On this occasion the family wanted to cremate her in the jungle instead of the normal village cremation ground. While carrying the body, someone noticed there was blood dripping from the head. They looked under the sheet and saw that there was a wound on the back of the head and marks and bruises on her neck. Clearly she had not died from diarrhoea, and so the Sarpanch (like the mayor) of the village and her husband stopped the procession, delayed the cremation and reported it to the police. (The Sarpanch was a relative of the girl and so was present at the procession).

The father was called to the police station and told the police that the girl had actually committed suicide, not died of illness. He said that the day before the family discovered she had been seeing an older boy they disapproved of, were angry at her and had an argument. The next morning she was dead. According to her brother, when she didn’t emerge from her locked room the following morning, he looked through the skylight to see her hanging from the roof by a sari. He said he cut the sari she was hanging from, her body dropped to the floor, causing the wound on the back of her head. The dead girl was dressed in her school uniform. When my colleagues asked questions about the clothes she was wearing when she died, they were told the night dress she had been wearing had been burnt as it was dirty. The police hadn't asked any questions about the dress, or taken any photographs of the dead body or scene. They generally showed an extremely weak attempt at any investigation into the death.

The doctor has reported that it is a case of suicide and so the police haven’t looked into it any further. However many of the villagers don’t believe it was suicide. When the team arrived the father was not present and they were told that he had gone to get medical treatment as he had been beaten up by the villagers, suspecting he had been responsible. The team spoke to the girl’s friends who had been with her at school the days before her death and said she had seemed normal; nothing was out of the ordinary.

The circumstances behind this girl's death are suspicious. It doesn’t seem to be a premeditated killing, such as many “honour killings” – most of which occur in Northern states such as Rajasthan. It could be that it was an accidental death when a fight got out of control, or a suicide. I doubt there will ever be a thorough investigation, although my colleagues have been appealing to the authorities to bring the case to justice. Regardless of whether it was suicide or murder, the fact is that a young girl is dead for doing nothing more than being a normal teenage girl - meeting a boy. That the reaction of her parents could be so bad that she would commit suicide is just not right. And worse still, if the shame of the parents could be so strong that the only way to keep their “honour” is to kill their own daughter, this is beyond comprehension.

50 million missing women in India:

What is more disturbing is that this isn’t a unique case. Experts estimate more than 1,000 honour killings happen in India every year. Honour killings are just one element contributing to the massive gender gap in India. This year’s census revealed that there are only 914 girls to every 1,000 boys in India, a drop from 927 in 2001. So, despite many more education and career opportunities for women, the situation in general is getting worse. In a recent poll, India was ranked the 4th most dangerous country in the world for women (because of sex-selective abortions, infanticide, honour killings, trafficking, dowry killings). As a result of these issues, there are an estimated 50 million missing women in India – ‘missing’ meaning those who would be alive if there was a natural sex ratio. There is still a lot of pressure on women to have a son instead of a daughter and huge inequalities for women exist. Campaigns like ‘We Can’ are dedicated to changing this, recruiting individual Change Makers to change attitudes in their communities and end violence against women.

Some articles on this:

India's missing women (the Guardian)

Gendercide in India (the Economist)

India mothers charged with daughters' honour killing (BBC)

India court calls for 'stamping out honour killing' (BBC)

Census 2011: One Massive Headcount

At the moment the Census 2011 is being carried out in India - a big job for a country with the 2nd largest population in the world. There is an awareness drive going on around the country to encourage everyone to make sure they are counted and gain accurate figures of the population. This year's census is especially important for people with disabilities.

India has the highest percentage of disabled people in the world (70 million people, approx 6% of the Indian population). This is the most commonly accepted figure, although the statistics vary widely, because of different definitions of disability and the reliability of the surveys. For instance the figures from census 2001 show only 21 million.

There is a big stigma attached to disability in India. So, it's very common for people to hide a family member's disability - they don't want the shame, the reputation, the damage to their son or daughter's marriage potential.. Often people might not recognise a disability in themselves or a family member - my husband's bad leg, grandma's deafness...these things could be a disability which needs attention, but hasn't been labelled or addressed before.

Count Us In

This year the census has detailed questions on disability and my organisation has been involved in an awareness campaign called Count Us In, to make both the census enumerators and the general public aware of the importance of counting people with disabilities in the census. This has involved local print and TV ads, and awareness workshops.

With more accurate figures I hope that India can begin to provide the facilities which are so needed. It's clear even to my untrained eyes that the 21 million figure isn't convincing. I see a lot of people every day with some form of disability and often wonder how they cope in a country that is difficult even for a fully-abled person to navigate. And these are just the people I see, not counting how many more are hidden away, unable to leave their homes.

Male/Female/Other

Another interesting new addition to this year's Census is the question on Gender; which includes Male, Female and 'Other', allowing Transgenders to be counted for the first time. You can read more in this article.

Bags for charity!

I've had some cute bags made to help raise money for VSO! My friend Aoife created the design. The henna'd hands represent people living in poverty (specifically in India) trying to be seen by the rest of the world. By wearing the bag you're helping to raise awareness and encourage people to take notice of poverty. The bags are made from 100% Fairtrade cotton, sourced from Fairtrade registered factories in India.

All proceeds go towards my fundraising target for VSO. Just donate £5 (or more if you're feeling generous) at justgiving.com/janeindia, message me your address and I'll give/post you one!

No one was ever lost on a straight road

I did it! Ran 10k in 30 degree heat (good prep for India..), without really training. It was tough! But the feeling of accomplishment was oh so worth it, as were the glasses of champagne :)

Shame I only managed to raise much funds though!! I need to rethink my fundraising approach..

Crossing the finish line..

Little drops of water make a mighty ocean

Boond boond se samandar hota ha

It's the beginning.

I've been accepted on a one-year volunteer placement in India as part of VSO's Youth for Development programme! As of November, I'll be working as a Communications Coordinator with Aaina, an NGO in Orissa, east India. Aaina is a small voluntary organisation dedicated to working with vulnerable sections of society - specifically people with disability, women and children. I'll be using my marketing skills to help Aaina strengthen and improve their communications systems. Hopefully I'll be able to help make some little drops of difference. I'm very, very excited.

It's a little while away...so now, to enjoy my summer in London, make the most of it all, and prepare for all that awaits me on my do-good venture to India.