Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi leader and MP Thol Thirumavalavan on Tuesday said that his party would organise State-wide demonstrations on August 9 and 11 to urge the Tamil Nadu government to enact a separate law to prevent honour killings.
Speaking to journalists at Tiruchi airport, Mr. Thirumavalavan said the State government had the responsibility and the power to enact legislation to prevent honour killings. The DMK had promised, in the run-up to the elections, that it would take necessary efforts to bring in a law to prevent honour killings. Tamil Nadu could be forerunner and a model for other States by bringing in this legislation.
He added that he would take part in the demonstration at Chennai on August 9.
Claiming that honour killings were on the rise in Tamil Nadu and other States in the country, Mr. Thirumavalavan said his party had been consistently pressing for a separate law to prevent the crime. He had raised the issue in Parliament earlier and written to the Union Home Minister.
Although democratic forces were raising their voices against honour killings committed on religious and caste lines in the country, the Centre was yet to consider it, he said.
