Honour-Based Violence As Reproductive Governance: Constitutional Morality And Caste In India

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Shikha Vasishta, Research Scholar (Political Science), School of Liberal Arts, Bennett University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India

ORCID – 0009-0005-4198-6202

ABSTRACT

Honour-based violence (HBV) in India is typically viewed as a particularly extreme expression of gender-based violence. The article seeks to expand on this understanding of HBV to demonstrate how it may be conceptualised as a structural form of reproductive governance embedded in the social/ legal structure of caste. This article demonstrates how HBV acts not simply as isolated episodes of violence; however, it also acts as a regulatory instrument which disciplines reproductive autonomy through controlling choice of sexual partners, marriage choice, and adherence to caste endogamy. In this way, honour crimes can be seen as mechanisms for maintaining caste purity and continuing lineage continuity, while simultaneously identifying women's bodies as the site for reproduction of caste and social regulation. This article will examine the issue of HBV against the backdrop of the constitutional framework in India, noting the contradictions between HBV and constitutional principles of dignity, autonomy, equality, and moral rights as outlined under Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Indian constitution. The article will explore the disparity between judicial recognitions of the individual's right to choose their spouse and the ongoing social acceptability of caste- based coercive structures such as Khap Panchayat councils and community- imposed sanctions. Using both doctrinal legal analysis and socio-legal research methodologies this paper positions HBV within feminist legal theory, intersectionality and biopolitics approaches to governance. Further, the paper outlines how caste functions as a reproductive regime in which honour based violence acts as an enforcement mechanism. It concludes by addressing HBV necessitates looking beyond criminalization towards a constitutional commitment to dismantle caste-based reproductive control, thus realizing a more substantial vision of reproductive justice in India.

Keywords: Honour-based violence, reproductive governance, caste endogamy, constitutional morality, reproductive autonomy

912. HONOUR-BASED VIOLENCE AS REPRODUCTIVE GOVERNANCE- CONSTITUTIONAL MORALITY AND CASTE I

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