JIM YARDLEY “In India, Castes, Honor and Killings Intertwine” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/10/world/asia/10honor.html
印度における「名誉殺人（honor killing）」。上の記事では、相対的に低いカーストの男性と婚約したために親に殺されたJarkhand州出身のブラフマン*1の女性の話が中心に語られる。
また、
This week, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ordered a cabinet-level commission to consider tougher penalties in honor killings.In June, India’s Supreme Court sent notices to seven Indian states, as well as to the national government, seeking responses about what was being done to address the problem.
The phenomenon of honor killings is most prevalent in some northern states, especially Haryana, where village caste councils, or khap panchayats, often operate as an extralegal morals police force, issuing edicts against couples who marry outside their caste or who marry within the same village — considered a religious violation since villages are often regarded as extended families.
Even as the court system has sought to curb these councils, politicians have hesitated, since the councils often control significant vote blocs in local elections.
「名誉殺人」が猖獗を極めているとされるHaryana州は印度北西部で、首都ニュー・デリーを含む。一方、Jarkhand州はビルマ国境に近い印度東北部。
New cases of killings or harassment appear in the Indian news media almost every week. Last month, the police arrested three men for the honor killings of a couple in New Delhi who had married outside their castes, as well as the murder of a woman who eloped with a man from another caste.
日本では異なる身分間の結婚を可能にする仕掛けとして、養子（養女）という制度があったが。また、上の引用によれば、印度では同じ村内の結婚も〈近親結婚〉に準ずるものとして忌避されるという。印度人が奈良時代の天皇のことを知ったら、どう思うか。もう近親相姦やり放題なんだから*2。
Intercaste marriages are protected under Indian law, yet social attitudes remain largely resistant. In a 2006 survey cited in a United Nations report, 76 percent of respondents deemed the practice unacceptable. An overwhelming majority of Hindu couples continue to marry within their castes, and newspapers are filled with marital advertisements in which parents, seeking to arrange a marriage for a son or daughter, specify caste among lists of desired attributes like profession and educational achievement.
*1:ちなみに、英語におけるBrahminという言葉の変な意味合いについては、http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20100309/1268153801を参照されたい。
