Honour, Custom or Crime: Honour Killing in Pakistan

"Honour killings" refer to the deliberate killing of a person, usually a woman, because the perpetrator feels that the victim's acts have brought shame or disgrace to their family or community. Often, family members or close relatives commit these deadly crimes in an attempt to restore the family's reputation for honour. Honour killings can have a variety of reasons, but they usually centre on actions that are thought to go against social, religious, or cultural norms. These behaviours can include accepting an organized marriage proposal, dating someone outside of your group, or marrying someone from a different community. Sadly, it has been determined that Pakistan has a high rate of honour killings despite of attempts to prevent and discourage this practice through legal enactments and administrative actions. The paper aims to analyse the situation of honour killing relay on the number of cases decided by the Superior Judiciary in the years 2016-18.