At a meeting of the GoM, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, it was decided to give the ten states a final chance to respond.
The Home Ministry had made proposal to amend Sec 300 of the IPC to define honour killing as separate crime. Out of 28 states, 18 have responded with Haryana opposing any such move and states like UP, Delhi and Rajasthan supporting the idea.
There is also a proposal to amend the Evidence Act and the Special Marriage Act to check the menace of honour killing, government sources told PTI.
Till now, honour killing is not a classified crime in India, and no separate data is available of such cases with the National Crime Records Bureau.
The new definition of honour killing will carry the same punishment as that of murder ? ranging from a minimum of life imprisonment to a maximum of death sentence, including for those who order it.