Under pressure, UPA defers honour killing bill

New Delhi, Jul 8: Coming under pressure from Haryana MPs, the Congress-led UPA government was forced to defer the decision on the bill proposing death penalty for honour killing.

Congress is battling with differences within the party over the introduction of the bill, which was promised to be tabled by the government in the upcoming Monsoon session of the Parliament.

Union Cabinet Minister of Road Transport and Highways Kamal Nath, Minister for Sports MS Gill, Minister for Human Resource Kapil Sibal are reportedly the powerful voices within Congress protesting against the bill.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Jul 8, I&B Minister Ambika Soni announced that the cabinet had decided to seek the views of the states on the issue of honour killing.

Besides this, the cabinet will be refering the issue of Khap panchayats to a Group of Ministers (GoM).

The cabinet did not discuss the issue in detail as it decided to refer it to GoM. The GoM will be given terms of reference," Soni informed media personnel.

“The aim is to bring such crimes, effectively, under the law of the land," the minister, who termed the issue as a sensitive one, said.

OneIndia News