Honour killings is one of the most brutal forms of social violence in India
A chilling incident from Nuh, a largely rural and underdeveloped district in Haryana, has once again brought the brutal reality of honour killings into national focus.
In the village of Rahpua under the Punhana area, Soyeb Khan, a 19-year-old youth, was found hanging from a tree on the morning of February 5, a death that is now widely suspected to be an honour killing.
The case has sparked outrage among human rights advocates and legal experts, not only because of the disturbing details surrounding the death, but also due to the continued impunity such crimes often enjoy in India. While honour killings are routinely condemned by courts, activists says that the ground reality remains grim where love across caste, religion, or community boundaries can still invite violence, threats, and death.
According to the FIR lodged , at Pingawan Police Station, by Khan’s father, Deen Mohammad, Khan allegedly received a phone call at around midnight on February 4, from a woman named Kali, allegedly his girlfriend. The call reportedly came from her mobile number. Soon after receiving the call, Khan left his home.
Hours later, the family received devastating news. Around 08:00 next day, Soyeb’s brother Saqir received a call from an acquaintance informing him that Soyeb’s body had been found hanging from a tree in Papada village.
The family rushed to the spot and what they witnessed only deepened their suspicion. They observed that both of Soyeb’s feet were resting on the ground, raising immediate doubts about the alleged suicide For many, this detail suggests that the scene may have been staged to make the murder appear self-inflicted.
The FIR alleges that Kali, along with other accused individuals Jamed, Nasir, and Sabba conspired to call Khan out of his house, beat him brutally, murder him, and then hang his body from a tree to portray the death as suicide.
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Police registered FIR No. 0027/2026 dated 05.02.2026, naming the four accused. The body was taken into police custody and sent to GH Mandikheda Hospital for post-mortem. A fortnight later, Khan’s body remains in the hospital mortuary.
No arrests yet, family alleges political pressure
Despite the seriousness of the allegations, the case has taken a troubling turn no arrests have been made so far. On February 6, Deputy Superintendent of Police Jitendra Rana visited Pingawan Police Station and met the family. According to the family, police officials assured them arrests would follow once the post-mortem and forensic reports were reviewed. However, the delay has raised concerns among activists and legal observers.
Human rights lawyer Sumaiya Khatoon, based in Delhi, who has taken up the matter and is providing legal assistance to the victim’s family, expressed strong concern over the lack of action.
“This case is extremely serious. It is unfortunate that even in the year 2026, society is still unable to tolerate a young person’s personal choices and decisions. If someone is murdered because of a love affair and then attempted to pass it off as suicide, it is a direct attack on both the law and human rights. The perpetrators must be prosecuted swiftly and strictly,” Khatoon tells Media India Group.
Sumayya Khatoon
Khatoon says that the post-mortem report has been received and the FIR has already been registered, but the forensic investigation remains incomplete.
“The boy was allegedly killed by a member of the girl’s family. The post-mortem report has been received, and the FIR has already been lodged. However, the forensic report is still pending. So far, no arrests have been made by the police. The DSP has assured the family that action will be taken after the report is received and that the accused will be arrested accordingly,” she adds.
But the family believes the delay is not procedural, it is political.
“The boy’s family believes that due to political pressure, the arrests have not yet been carried out. Additionally, I have been informed that the girl’s family is seeking a settlement with the boy’s family and has reportedly stated that nothing will happen through legal proceedings,” says Khatoon.
Honour killings remain one of the most brutal forms of social violence in India, often stemming from patriarchal and community-driven control over relationships and marriage. These killings are frequently carried out when individuals marry or form relationships against family wishes especially in cases involving inter-caste, inter-religious, or inter-community unions.
While courts have repeatedly ruled that adults have the right to choose their partners, the enforcement of such constitutional rights remains weak in many rural and semi-rural pockets of the country. What makes honour killings particularly disturbing is the silence that often surrounds them. Many cases are never officially recorded as honour killings at all, either due to under-reporting or deliberate manipulation of evidence.
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Highlighting the stark gap between lived realities and official statistics, Choudhary Ali Zia Kabir, a leading human rights lawyer based in Delhi, says that honour killings in India remain dangerously underreported and systematically misclassified.
“The quality, gathering and availability of data on public issues in India such as honour killing has steadily deteriorated over the last decade. Honour killings are often sanctioned by the entire community and so the matter is either never reported, or reported as an accident and then even where FIRs are lodged NCRB almost always records it as a plain and simple murder,” Kabir tells Media India Group.
He points out that community complicity, social stigma and flawed data collection practices often conceal the true scale of the crime, allowing many such killings to disappear from public record and policy attention.
Kabir warns that honour killings in India appear to be rising at an alarming pace. He says that while government data itself shows a steady increase, media reports and ground realities point to a far steeper surge, suggesting that the true scale of such crimes is significantly undercounted and continues to grow unchecked.
Choudhary Ali Zia Kabir
“Even this low-quality data indicates an uptick 25 honour killings in 2020, 33 in 2021. The reality however might be what the papers reported to be an 800 pc rise, 28 cases in 2014 and 251 in 2015. The real figures, as one can easily deduce from frequent news reports, is likely to be much higher. So, honour killings are increasing and likely at an increasing pace,” Kabir adds.
Kabir says that honour killings cannot be seen in isolation they are part of a broader culture of increasing violence and declining accountability.
“Indian society is becoming more violent from the last decade. There are increasing incidents of public lynchings, caste and minority violence, where perpetrators are never brought to account, and instead are celebrated as heroes by certain sections, garlanded by the high ministers, and then ministers themselves are seen calling for violence and fake encounters,” Kabir adds.
He further pointed out how political normalisation of violence creates a dangerous atmosphere.
“All this has the cumulative effect of inculcating a sense of impunity in committing violence, particularly against marginalised groups such as women, Dalits, minorities and others. It is no surprise therefore that honour killing are on the accelerating rise,” Kabir added.
Experts say this climate of impunity emboldens families and communities to believe that honour killings will not be punished, especially when cases are diluted, misreported, or quietly settled.
India does not have a separate law specifically to deal with “honour killing,” but such cases fall under serious criminal provisions, including murder and conspiracy.
Khatoon pointed out that if Khan’s case is proven to be an honour killing, it would fall under grave offences.
“According to me, if the investigation proves the case to be an honour killing, it would fall under the category of serious offences like murder, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence under the Indian Penal Code, 2023 (BNS),” she adds.
However, activists says that laws alone cannot stop honour killings unless investigations are swift, arrests are timely, and trials are fast-tracked.
In many honour killing cases, witnesses turn hostile due to community intimidation. Victims’ families are pressured into silence, while survivors are forced into hiding. In extreme cases, settlements are pushed aggressively, allowing perpetrators to walk free. The allegations in Khan’s case that the girl’s family is trying to negotiate a settlement fits this pattern.
Khatoon stressed that honour killings are not merely personal tragedies but social crimes that demand collective resistance.
“This is the time to collectively stand against honour killings. It is deeply alarming that we are living in the year 2026, yet individuals are still being killed for exercising their fundamental right to choose whom they love,” Khatoon says.
As Khan’s family waits for justice, the case exposes a painful truth: for many young Indians, love can still be dangerous. The promise of constitutional rights often collapses when confronted by rigid social structures, patriarchal violence, and community control.
The pending FSL report is now central to the case. But activists says that forensic reports should not become an excuse for delay when the FIR already names accused persons and the circumstances raise clear suspicion.