Abstract
The study explores the causes of honour-based crimes through the narratives of victims, aggressors and bystanders, which were unfolded in documentary films: A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness (2015) and Saving Face (2012). Selected narratives are interpreted by taking the sociocultural perspectives that draw on the cultural manifestation of honour crimes. The study shows that the ‘ideology of honour’ is one of the major causes of honour- crimes in Pakistan. Unlike Western discourses, which empower a woman institutionally to resist honour crimes, Pakistani women are either hushed or forced to compromise despite the presence of law to punish the aggressors. The study recommends that state and nonstate institutions play an effective role through the local councils of Pakistan in dealing with honour crimes and rehabilitation of victims through the provision of remunerative work.
Highlights
The present study explores the causes of honour-based crimes (HBC) through the narratives of victims, aggressors and bystanders as shown in the documentaries
The study interprets the selected texts at four stages: (a) the causes of honour crimes, which surface in the narratives of the victims; (b) perspectives of the aggressors; (c) observations of the bystanders; and (d)the role of institutional representatives such as police and lawyers
The study unmasks the taken-for-granted everyday discourse on honour crimes shown in the documentary films: A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness (2015) and Saving Face (2012) and makes visible the faulty ideology of honour that is a unifying force behind HBC in Pakistan
Summary
In tribal areas, remote and less developed regions where there is no writ of the State, such crimes are authorized and legitimized by local councils under the vague excuse of traditions These gruesome murders continue to be regarded as a community matter to be resolved through blood money to victims‟ families (c.f., Warraich 2005; Eisner and Ghuneim 2013; Kanchan, Tandon and Krishan 2015; Strange 2016). We observe violation of women‟s right by inhuman and discriminatory practices in the documentary films: A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness (2015) and Saving Face (2012) Both documentary films uncover honour crime incidents by taking the perspectives of victims, aggressors and bystanders.
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