Punishing someone for falling in love is a serious crime, observed the Supreme Court on Tuesday while hearing arguments over grant of bail to 11 persons, who formed part of a khap panchayat that ordered hanging of three youths, including a girl and a boy who fell in love and wanted to make a life together. The grotesque incident occurred at Mehrana village in Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh in 1991. Eight of the accused had been awarded the dying penalty, whereas others had been sentenced to life imprisonment. The Allahabad High Court put aside the dying penalty and sentenced them to life imprisonment in 2016.
The “Mehrana honour killing” created a furore towards the endorsement of honour crimes by the khap panchayats.The Uttar Pradesh authorities objected to the plea for bail on well being grounds.The courtroom ordered, in the very best curiosity of justice, the probation officer of the Agra and Mathura central jails to interview the convicts, study their data and submit a report in two weeks. The report also needs to specify the interval of incarceration.“The report shall indicate their present state of health physically and mentally and shall, in particular, state whether their release would create a problem, in the sense that would they be inclined to rake up the incident and create trouble for others or themselves. The report shall also indicate, in case it is found fit to release them by this court, the district other than the district where the incident occurred in which they could be asked to reside for their own safety and the safety of the others,” the courtroom ordered.The case will likely be taken up after two weeks.