Notoriety of Khap Panchayats !

The Khap Panchayat has done it again, to assert its false, unconstitutional and undemocratic supremacy. Going by the newspaper report which has appeared in its 1st October, 2012 issue, it is gathered that the Khap Panchayat has held a meeting at village Kohi in District Reewari of Hariyana and issued an order / diktat for the social boycott of the families of a boy - Bhagirath and a girl called Sunita, in case they do not disown their children. It is further reported that this young couple named Bhagirath and Sunita has developed strong sentiments of love and affection towards each other despite belonging to the same Gotra or clan and have married in April last year. The young love birds have married defying the socially accepted norms, customs and traditions relating to the Hindu marriages and also have a child now. It is pertinent to mention here that this young couple belongs to the Dalit families and sensing a threat to their life, they have also fled from their village and have approached the Rajasthan High Court for seeking security for them, as the big and influential people in the village's social hierarchy (members of Khap Panchayat) are deadly against them and are bent upon nullifying / ruining their married life, despite the fact that a baby has also arrived in their family now. 

It is also pertinent to mention here that this is no the first or the casual case where Khap Panchayat has interfered and declared the marriage of the young couples belonging to the same Gotras, as null and void. So many incidents of their uncalled for and illegal interruptions have been noticed and reported in the print and electronics media earlier also, particularly in the states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Not only that, in some of the cases, young boys and girls daring to marry despite attracting strong opposition from the Khap Panchayats, had to pay the price with their precious lives, even though the fact remains that these kinds of Khap Panchayats do not have any legal or constitutional authority to issue such diktats or orders to the people living in the rural areas, in the above mentioned three states. It is just by the virtue or vice of their economic and social hegemony that they continue to assert their illegitimate pressure and influence on the people, particularly on the lower and poorer strata of society, i.e. Dalits to say the specific. It is also being perpetually done because of the implied and tacit understanding of most of the political leaders in power in these states.  On the contrary, these leaders have miserably failed in their constitutional duty towards of have-nots of the society, on more than one front and on more than one occasion. The big landlords and Jats etc. continue to harass and victimise the Dalits of the villages and neither Police nor political leaders help them to stop this menace.
Let us now delve a bit deeper into the malaise of the same Gotra or same clan marriages in the historical perspective. Shuffling over the pages of Indian history, here I am reminded of the times of Mahabharata. Every body is aware that during Mahabharata, Pandava Prince Arjuna had also married Subhadra, who was his second wife. And this Subhadra was the real cousin sister of Arjuna, as mother of Arjuna (Kunti) was sister of Lord Krishna’s father (Vasudeva) and both of them were Hindus. Not only that, everybody is also aware that according to the Hindu customs and traditions relating to marriages, particularly in the northern India, marriages between cousins are strictly forbidden, because they are considered as brothers and sisters. But when Lord Krishna realised that His own sister Subhadra loves and adores Pandav prince Arjuna, Lord Krishna not only inspired Subhadra to elope with Arjuna, (as otherwise, their elder brother – Balram, had already made plans to marry her to the Kaurav prince Duryojana), but also advised Arjuna to kidnap Subhadra and flee with her from their kingdom – Dwarika, in case he really wants to marry the girl closer to his heart. Not only that, Lord Krishna also advised Arjuna to make Subhadra his charioteer so that the blame of kidnapping her does not fall on him. And after the storm of the anger and agitations against Arjuna engineered by their elder brother Balram had subsided and their pent-up sentiments had settled down, Lord Krishna convinced every one in their court that it was their own sister - Subhadra who herself drove away with Arjuna and also that the choice of finding a suitable match for the girl should be better left to her - was accepted by one and all present there. Thereafter, their marriage was solemnised with all related religious customs and traditions.
One thing more I would like to emphasize here that Lord Krishna was God himself, and during those times, who was better or bigger interpreter of religion and morality than Lord Krishna himself? But when He himself realised that Arjuna and Subhadra love and adore each other truly, He too bowed before the wishes of their love and sentiments and thus, He not only willingly agreed to their marriage, but heartily bestowed His blessings on the young couple as well.
Now let us take another example from the pages of history. The 12th century chivalrous Rajput King of Ajmer, Prithviraj Chauhan (1149-1192) had not only loved Sanyogita or Sanyukta, but also kidnapped her and later on married her, much against the wishes of her parents. Both belonged to the Hindu families and Sanyogita was none other than Prithviraj’s own cousin sister (Mausi Ki Ladki), as she was daughter of Jai Chander, the King of Kannauj. Now everybody is aware that the Hindu religion does not allow matrimonial alliance between cousins and they are treated as brother and sister, but none had guts and courage to tell Prithviraj not to look at Sanyogita with this type of intention, which is considered as incest accordingly to the popular Hindu beliefs. But least bothering about the prevailing customs and traditions etc., Prithviraj moved forward and married her.
Many more examples of marriages between cousin and same Gotra / clan can be given even from the recent history also, but the fact remains that the big and wealthy people of the society hardly care for what others say or opine about their relationships. Religious customs and traditions are generally accepted and respected by the poor and middle class families only. Nevertheless, one more thing, I would like to emphasize here is that, by reading up to this level, please don’t jump to the conclusion or presume that I am in favour of same Gotra or clan marriages in Hindu families. But on the contrary, personally speaking, I am totally against such type of marriages, as the modern medical science has made it abundantly clear that while seeking matrimonial alliances, efforts should be better made to go beyond your own clan / Gotra etc., as if such a (same Gotra) marriage takes place, the children to be born out of that wedlock, shall have lower IQ level and shall also be susceptible to a number of diseases, as genes of both the parents have not been allowed to be different and divergent. Moreover, physical and mental traits of the kids shall also remain almost at the same level and there is very little likelihood of its moving up the ladder of intelligence. That is why, in Punjab, when finding a suitable match for the boy or girl, we keep in mind the Gotras of Father, Mother, Daadi and Naani and ensure that none of these four Gotras matches with the Gotras of girl’s aforesaid four relations.
Last, but not the least, if the young boy and girl, least bothering about the Gotras of their parents, move forward with their marriage plans, no doubt they should be made aware of the deficiencies which are likely to occur in their future life and their next generation, but if the young people does not care for these things to be avoided, these should be better left to themselves. Khap Panchayats simply don’t have any right or power to nullify their marriage or hurl any threat to them or punish them in any manner, because the matter is outside their domain. Moreover, such Panchayats should also keep in mind that they are not the elected bodies of the village, rather it is the Gram Panchayats who are legally empowered to exercise some sort of pressure and influence on the people.
While on discussing activities of the Khap Panchayats, it is very shameful to note that 16 cases of rape or gang rapes have taken place in Haryana alone during the last one month. One of the victims, a sixteen years old girl from a Dalit family, who was gang-raped around a week ago by 3/4 boys of the same village (Sachcha Khera) in Distt. Jind, has not only gone into depression after the barbaric crime committed on her, but also committed suicide by setting herself on fire after pouring kerosene oil over her body. But these Khap Panchayats have again miserably failed to rise upto the occasion and criticise and condemn the culprits who commit such heinous crimes on girls / women. Why ? Don’t they have any sympathy for those victims (and hate for the criminals) or they simply avoid such ghastly and heinous crimes of the criminals because majority of them are rich and influential people of their own community. Not only that, it is also observed that on many occasions, when some conflict or friction abrupts amongst the Jats and Dalits of their village, houses of the Dalits are set on fire, but even then these Khap Panchayats maintain their studied silence over those ghastly atrocities being committed on Dalits. Thus, it can be observed that these Khap Panchayats act and speak only on the matters which are convenient to them and to maintain their false hegemony in society. It is also observed that most of the leaders of all political parties also prefer not to act or speak on the atrocities committed by Jats on Dalits and other poorer strata of the society in these states, may be also due to fear of political backlash. It is also because of so many cases of victimisation and harassment of females in Haryana that during the last census completed in 2011, it had recorded very low female to male sex ratio (just 877 as compared to the national average of 914) per 1000 males.
 
It is also ironical to observe that a former Chief Minister of the state has also sided with the draconian views of the Khap Panchayats that to curtail such cases of rapes etc., the marriage age for the girls should be lowered to 15 or 16. What a poor display of thinking ? Instead of condemning the criminal elements from amongst the affluent families, he is advocating a wrong step. His comparing such cases to the Mughal era is also totally illogical, as during those times, Mughal emperors ruled over India, whereas, democratic set-up is in place now-a-days. And in democracy, rule of the law should be supreme and not the good or bad will of the ruler or the affluent sections of society. These criminal elements deserve to be hanged to death so that a strong signal goes in society that the law is not with the law-breakers, but with the aggrieved people, whosoever poor or rich, high or low he or she may be. Moreover, lowering the age of marriage for girls shall also have adverse effects on their health besides culminating into baby-boom later on, and adding much to the already higher population growth of our country. It will also put a full stop on the educational opportunities for the girls to rise and give a meaningful direction to their carrier. And why all this should be allowed to be done, and that too, to save and appease some anti-social elements of the state, who treat the females as an object of pleasure only.

While on the bad and derogatory customs and traditions made by the big and influential people of the village society of Rajasthan, it is pertinent to mention here that in Village Dangariya of Distt. Dausa, Dalit members of the village are compelled to take off their shoes and slippers etc. while passing in front of or crossing the houses of the upper caste people. Not only that, Dalit youths are also prohibited from riding on horse backs while their marriage procession is proceeding towards the houses of the brides. What a derogatory rule made for the Dalits of the village and is mischievously allowed to prevail even after 65 years of Indian having gained freedom and untouchability having been declared a crime by law. Why these Khap Panchayats don’t speak against such draconian and Talibani diktats or orders and bad practices which are totally undemocratic in the eyes of the law and curtail the freedom of one caste or community and makes them subservient to others in society ?  
All such incidents and events are nothing but glaring examples of notoriety of the Khap Panchayats going on in all the three states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. The sooner these are addressed to properly, the better it would be for all the sections of society; because, otherwise, dictates of the Khap Panchayats not only perpetuate unwanted and undesired conflicts amongst the various section of society, but it also lead to discrimination on basis of caste and community, besides being contrary to the spirit of fundamental rights of all the citizens and undesired spreading of crimes in society.
I would also like to suggest that the rape of a minor girl should be treated at par with murder and the man committing such crime should be awarded death penalty and all such case should be decided with expeditiously, preferably maximum within two years. Not only that, the undemocratic, illegal, Talibani and draconian wings of these Khap Panchayats should also be clipped and if they still continue to announce such an order in future, they should also be awarded huge and exemplary financial penalty, besides awarding jail terms as well.  
Lastly, it is universally acknowledged fact that those societies and countries who impose undesired restrictions on their females (who constitute almost 50% of the population), do not respect and regard their individual dignity, respect and honour and also commit various kinds of atrocities and excesses on them in the name of derogatory customs and backward looking traditions, simply lag far behind the other developed countries around the globe in their way to scientific development, progress and prosperity.  

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R.D. Bhardwaj “Noorpuri”
Dated :  14th Oct., 2012