Sonia Gandhi pays tribute to Sanjay Gandhi on his 30th death anniversary in New Delhi on Wednesday. (PTI)

New Delhi, June 23: The Congress today chose to remain non-committal on same-gotra marriages but condemned honour killings and demanded more legal teeth to deal with the menace.

Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natrajan said the “time has come to take a national view in this matter”.

Asked about the central leadership’s position on same-gotra marriages, she said: “We believe a holistic view should be taken. But violence cannot be supported. No reason is big enough for people to take the law into their own hands. We condemn violence and murder in the name of honour. It has to be put down with a firm hand.”

Delhi and Haryana, where honour killings have taken place recently, are both Congress-ruled.

The Delhi killings, where two male cousins killed their sisters for marrying outside their caste, have been described by chief minister Sheila Dikshit as “cold-blooded murder”. “It is a very depressing scenario and should be strongly condemned,” Dikshit said, but hinted that legal provisions alone would not be enough to deal with the problem. “Police cannot be posted inside homes,” she said, indicating the need for a social campaign.

But in Haryana, where Congress leaders have not spoken with such clarity, the problem for the party is more complex. While MP Navin Jindal had to be chastised for speaking in favour of khap panchayats, chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda continues to speak in multiple voices.

Natrajan today said “no Congress chief minister can support violence”. “Hooda will clarify his position on June 25,” she added. Natrajan avoided commenting on the demand for changes to the Hindu Marriage Act, which Hooda has supported.

A section of Congress leaders is, however, not so sympathetic towards Hooda. These leaders argue that the Haryana chief minister has sent out mixed signals to those who indulged in violence and that the high command should have hauled him up much earlier.

Yesterday, a day after the Supreme Court sent a notice to the state asking it to explain its stance on honour killings, Hooda had said neither his government nor the Congress supported such murders. “We will not allow anybody to do any unlawful activity. The Congress is a secular party and does not believe in caste and religion,” he had said.

However, he said marriages in north Indian villages were generally not solemnised within the same gotra. He also defended khap panchayats, arguing that they were not responsible for honour killings. A khap mahapanchayat has recently warned couples marrying within the same gotra that they will be forcibly separated.

Another Congress leader from Haryana has supported the khaps, saying: “They have never murdered people although they tend to ostracise couples marrying within the same gotra or village. The law or the Constitution cannot override social customs and age-old traditions.”

Law minister M. Veerappa Moily today said the home ministry had drafted a bill that would put in place tight laws to end “such heinous crimes”.

The Congress has cleared the draft bill even as certain sections in the party are demanding a national debate on the issue.