BETWEEN FAITH, FAMILY, AND FEAR: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF HONOUR-RELATED VIOLENCE IN MUSLIM COMMUNITIES IN WESTERN UTTAR PRADESH

Background: This article examines honour-related violence within Muslim communities in Western Uttar Pradesh a region shaped by patriarchal kinship structures and recurring communal tensions, especially after the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots. While honour crimes in India are often theorised within Hindu caste frameworks, their manifestation among Muslims shaped by intersecting gender norms, biradari hierarchies, and communal politics remains under explored. This study addresses that gap by analysing how izzat (honour) functions not only as a familial value but also as a broader mechanism of communal regulation.

Methodology: Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2014 and 2016 in Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, and Shamli, this study draws on interviews with survivors, families, clerics, activists, and police, alongside participant observation and document analysis. It shows how honour is enforced through surveillance, coercion, and violence legitimised by clerics and community networks, and often reinforced by state institutions through indifference or tacit support.

Conclusion: The study finds that honour is not a static tradition but a politicised discourse that transforms communal anxieties into moral imperatives particularly around women’s autonomy and interfaith relationships. It functions as a gendered and communal strategy of control, sustained through both everyday practices and institutional complicity. The article calls for responses beyond legal reform to address structural patriarchy, state impunity, and to support intersectional, community-driven feminist interventions. By reframing honour as a political and relational construct, the study opens new pathways for theorising gendered violence in communally polarised societies.