By Centre For Social Research,
The Khap has been a system of social administration and organization in the northwestern states of India since ancient times. Written references are found as far back as 2500 BCE. During and since that time, there has been shift from nomadic way of life to settled agricultural practices. From this time on, the Indian social fabric was organized around the village unit and the mode of governing was often that of a council of five, which is called a Panchayat. Khap is a term for a social-political grouping and used in a geographical sense. A Khap originally consisted of 84 villages. A unit of seven villages was called a Thamba and 12 Thambas would form the unit of 84 villages, a khap, together.
However, there are also khaps of 12 and 24 villages. Their elected leaders would determine which units would be represented at the khap level. These khaps are spread all the way from Northwest India down to Madhya Pradesh, Malwa, Rajasthan, Sindh, Multan, Punjab, Haryana, and modern Uttar Pradesh. The Sarv Khap Panchayat represented all the khaps.
The individual khaps would elect leaders who would send delegates, who in their turn would represent the khaps at the Sarv khap level. It was a political organization, composed of all the clans, communities, and castes in the region.
In the 14th century the upper caste jats used this system to consolidate their power and position. Nowadays the khap panchayats still exist. Although their rulings have no legal validity they are very powerful and are successful in keeping with their so-called traditions. The khap panchayats oppose and annul marriages within the same ‘gotra’ (lineage) and administer cruel and inhuman punishments to ‘erring’ couples and their families. Originally the reason for prohibiting these kinds of marriages was that they wanted to lower the number of children born with birth defects. Although this is no longer an issue these gotra marriage are till prohibited on the grounds of ‘bhaichara’ or brotherly relations and honour.
Gotra
The term Gotra is a Hindi word for lineage which means the descendants of one individual. Originally, there were 7 Gotras – Vishvâmitra, Jamadagni, Bharadvâja, Gautama, Atri, Vasishtha, Kashyapa and Agasthya which was later included in the list. The ramification of the Gotras took place according to the needs in the later stages as the population proliferated. In Hinduism, one cannot marry into one’s own Gotra as the people of same Gotra are considered to be brothers and sisters. However, this rule is not enforced in South India and one can marry into his/her mother’s Gotra. This is not allowed in North India. The system which is fast loosing its value in metropolitian and urban areas, due to modernization, is still prevalent in many rural areas.
States like Western U.P, Haryana and Rajasthan which are quite developed are still governed by the rules of Gotras. In these states, the villagers still swear by the Gotra system of marriage.
How Khap Panchayats affect life and society
Recurrently the khap panchayats and their leaders are seen as protectors of the poor but in fact they are aggressors towards these underprivileged couples / families. Instead of helping them they try to impose their judgments on them. Their tyranny is mostly felt in traditional rural habitations since very little or no cases have been reported from urban areas. Their autocracy is specifically evident in the Sarv Khap of Haryana; which influence extended to the Malwa province in Central India, Rajasthan and Sindh.
The khap panchayats have a great effect on the people’s life and the society in a whole. These effects can be either of political, social or economical nature.
Politically
Violation of the gotra rule usually invites death for the offending couple, while family members are ostracized. It has served as a motive to terminate many young lives, either through murder or forced suicide. The mahapanchayat recently justified their actions by sending a message to the government and courts saying that the khap panchayats were independent of the laws of the land.
As a result, these medieval village-level panchayats function as parallel courts. They govern social norms and pronounce verdicts, which are in contravention of the modern, equitable laws that post-independence India adopted as a democracy. The khap panchayats take over the authority to act as prosecutors and judges without having the legal authority to do so.
Partap Singh, a former MLA and estranged brother of Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, adds that in the absence of norms, khap panchayats are playing havoc with the lives of young couples by issuing diktats at will.
Socially
The political and juridical power that the khaps have affects the life of many to a great extent. In order to act according to the rules older villages try to keep the young people apart. Some schools are also forced to have separate timings for the boys and girls; or girls are not allowed to go to school at all. Fearing their daughters would go astray, many parents marry them off at an early age. People have unquestionable faith in the justice of khap. The question of rights for women does not exist any where in the territories ruled by Khap panchayats. That girls are seldom sent to schools is especially harmful because education can empower various sections of society, and women in particular, more than anything else.
In some Haryana villages, the young girls are routinely threatened, abused and killed all under Khap verdicts. It is acceptable for the families to feed pesticide pills to the teenage girls and then dispose off their bodies by burning them without any police records. The entire onus of siblinghood rests on the girl. She is the keeper of village honor. Sometimes rules are bend for the boys but a girl is never allowed to bend the rules. If a couple runs away then the families risk a boycott and hefty fines in lakhs of rupees. Even the other women of the house can suffer abuse.
There are multiple other examples of the effect of the ruling of the khap panchayats in daily life. One, for instance, is that in March 2007, the Ruhal Khap banned DJs from playing at marriage parties in Rohtak, citing the ‘disturbance to milch animals’ as the reason. The real reason for the prohibition was the determination to stop girls from entering dance floors. Soon, three other Khaps joined in, spreading the ban to at least 83 villages around Rohtak. Says Pankaj Ruhal, an activist of Ruhal Khap, “Women who used to stay indoors started dancing publicly. This is against our tradition.”
Similarly, in May 2001, the Taliban stated that cricket should be banned in Muslim countries. Six years later, in April 2007, Tewa Singh, head of the Daadan Khap banned cricket and watching cricket matches on television in 28 villages in Jind district as ‘young boys were going astray’. Says Daadan Khap’s ‘secretary’, Jogi Ram, “Elders should ask their children to play kabaddi, kho-kho and wrestling. Cricket is not a game at all.” Those found guilty, the Khap warned, would be fined “for seven generations”. Unconfirmed reports state that Khaps near Karnal district have banned television and the radio.
In general, women are not well off under the rule of khap panchayats. In some other parts of India where there are Khap Panchayats, women are considered by them as a commodity. The reproductive roles of women are highlighted under this fold. They are not given any rights and expected to obey their fathers before they are married and fulfill their duties as a wife and as a homemaker after they get married. Women are not even allowed to enter, forget participate in these Khap meetings. Complete exclusion of female counterparts reflects that it is a highly male dominated sphere where women are considered mere objects. Ironically enough, Haryana and Punjab Khap leaders who violently prohibit same Gotra marriages are from areas in which there is a shortage of girls to marry their sons and they are therefore secretly sourcing brides from Jharkhand and other areas. This is due to a skewed sex ratio in the region, thanks to a highly volatile society thriving on gender discrimination.
Economically
As a result of the power of the khap panchayat, Haryana remains completely feudal and patriarchal in terms of attitudes to labor, marriage, inheritance, caste and gender relations. The predominant Jats, as a wealthy farming community, zealously guard their land, females and customs. Exercising control is the key to their social formulations, and khap panchayats serve as instruments towards this end. They are also found in other States, harbouring Jats. For this reason, laborers who do not belong to the Jats do not get a chance to develop themselves in economic respect.
Ranbir Singh, a sociologist who has worked extensively on castes in Haryana gives an interesting explanation for the dominance of Khaps in Haryana. He points out how holding on to ancient customs slows down economic progress. In a research paper he has authored he states, “Jats, being marginal farmers, have not only been bypassed by the process of economic development but have been further marginalized by it. This is because they could not take advantage of the Green Revolution due to their tiny and uneconomic land holdings, could not enter modern professions due to a lack of academic qualifications and could not take up some other occupations due to caste pride. Their lot has been made even more difficult by the processes of liberalization, privatization and globalization. Their disenchantment with political leadership has made these pauperized peasants look backwards instead of forward.”
The influential khap panchayats also affect the local economy in another way. To a great extent the exert control over the labor market: indirectly they have a say in who gets what kinds of jobs. Women are often neglected and do not get a chance to develop themselves or to become financially independent.
Incidents
Although their rulings have no legal validity, there is long list of uncivilized ‘punishments’ meted out to those couples that ‘offended’ the khap traditions. A couple of examples are:
On July 24, 2009, a khap panchayat ‘banished’ the couple Ravinder and Shilpa and Ravinder’s entire family from their village. The khap panchayat ordered their banishment on the ground that Ravinder is a ‘Gehlot’ from Dharana, and Shilpa is a ‘Kadyan’ from Siwah, in Panipat. Now, Ravinder and Shilpa live in Delhi, but they require police escort if they would want to visit their village.
The villagers of Singhwal lynched Ved Pal Mor in the very presence of the police, because he married a girl from the same gotra.
In June 2009, a khap panchayat forced Manoj and his wife Babli to drink pesticide. An order by the High Court to give police protection to the couple was in vain.
In June 2009, another couple, Anita and Sonu, who had ‘violated’ the khap propriety, was tricked to return to their village, only to be stabbed to death in public.
In April 2010, the khaps imposed such a heavy financial penalty on a family of Rajasthan that there was no other alternative for them than to commit suicide. Five members of the family jumped before a running train and took their lives.
These incidences highlighted the psychological fear and the tremendous pressure that these khaps generate on the minds of rural poor.
Reasons why khaps are powerful
Strikingly enough, after all these years, the khaps panchayats are still very powerful, while in fact they have no legal validity. Why has been done so little to stop them and, importantly, why are these terrible things are still happening?
First of all, it is due to the inherent weakness of democratically elected Panchayati Raj institutions, Khap panchayats have been powerful. Even the government has not done much to control their power, because they believe that for any administration to take stern action against Khap Panchayats, would be akin to political suicide. Therefore, indirectly, khap panchayats influence politicians to a great extent. The ground reality is that both the police and the gram panchayats either remain silent spectators of or provide passive consent to the inhuman acts.
As a result of this policy of appeasement (of the government towards the khap panchayat) the government failed to implement a uniform civil code, as per the constitutional directive. The soporific judicial system only adds to this problem. The nonchalant manner in which human rights are violated in these areas fails to perturb the administration.
To make matter worse: families who do try to break free from such abominable acts and rules are helpless as they have to resort to Khaps in case of a dispute. This makes it even more difficult for the villagers to liberate themselves from the Khaps.
Verdicts against Khaps
Emerging since medieval times, the Khap system is much need of legal reform. In recent times, the Khap system has attracted criticism from groups, citing the stark prejudice that such groups hold against others. The intolerance and anti locution that follows the hate campaign against another group of perhaps lower caste position, lower financial position, as well as sexist attitudes have led to calls for reform and legal action.
When it comes to legal action, a Karnal Sessions Court passed a landmark judgment last month, condemning five people to death for killing Manoj and Babli, who married within the same gotra and village, at the behest of the khap panchayat. The khap panchayat expressed its unwavering support for the people who were found guilty and asked villagers to contribute Rs 10 per household to help those found guilty in the case to appeal against their sentence. Another accused was sentenced to seven years in jail on charges of kidnapping and conspiracy.
Recent steps taken by Khap Panchayats
In modern times where the societal norms are constantly changing, there is always a tiff between the ancient practices being followed and the modern liberal opinion of the youth. This has obviously resulted in a revolt by the practitioners of these ancient customs who believe in restoring it at any cost.
On Tuesday 13th of April 2010, 20 khap leaders conferred at a mahapanchayat in Kurukshetra to work out a common strategy for safeguarding their social customs and insulating them against reforms. First of all they resolved to press for an amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act, which would safeguard their right to contract marriages as enjoined by tradition, and presumably punish those who dared flout convention. It was a clear reaction to the growing demand for the Government to clamp down on these bodies, which freely exercise their powers to strike terror in runaway couples that dare to defy their rules. Also they want to make clear that Khaps are not just some people but are oldest panchayats among the Indian community and should be respected.
The khap leaders want to take the matter of non-similar surname marriages to each and every home of India. They believe that: “if the marriages with same surnames were allowed then the society will become selfish as smart people will marry within and the charm of relations will be no more.” The khap panchayats want to achieve all of this even at the cost of lives and they want every household to contribute financially so that they can reach their goals.
Epilogue
India is going to be one of the developed and the most sought after economies in the world. Yet, there are so many social evils that pose as major barriers to the nation’s progress. Most of these hindrances are to socio – economic factors.
The courts and government need to speedily curtail their powers. India cannot afford to have a parallel justice system, which undoes all the good that was ushered in by its founding fathers. Sadly, consistent genuflection by political parties before people, whose concerns may be contrary to the Indian Constitution, laws and democratic ideal of equality, is to blame for this situation. There are limits to appeasement, and the khap panchayats must be expeditiously cut down to size. Also, the tyranny unleashed by khap panchayats on the pretext of safeguarding tradition needs to be quelled under threat of severe punishment.
The Khap Panchayat justice has been compared to the Taliban type kangaroo courts. The comparison is not entirely true but to pass verdicts by people and to take over the authority to act as prosecutors and judges in many cases without having the legal authority to do so, should not be possible in this era.
[photo:whyogace.wordpress.com/infochangeindia.org]