Honour killings a disgrace
by
AJ Philip |
Khap panchayats are neither representative nor elected bodies
TWO young journalists of Delhi studied together, fell in love and wanted to get married. The girl’s parents could not reconcile themselves to their daughter marrying her classmate, a lower caste person. Today her mother is in jail accused of murdering her daughter. The girl’s family has accused the boy of forcing her to commit suicide.
While it will take time to sift fact from fiction and punish the guilty — whether it is the mother or her lover — another honour killing has been making political waves in the country. The kidnapping and murder of Manoj and Babli, a couple from Haryana, in June 2007 shocked the conscience of the nation.
It was, again, a case of love marriage. They allegedly belonged to the same ‘gotra’ (family root) and were, therefore, considered siblings. The Khap panchayat, an institution that has been in existence in Haryana, for centuries, opposed the marriage but the lovers went ahead and got married. As they faced a threat to their lives, they approached the High Court in Chandigarh for police protection. The policemen who were to provide them security actually tipped the Khap panchayat leaders about the couple’s arrival in the village. Soon, they were kidnapped and brutally killed. Some of the close relatives of the girl and Khap panchayat leaders were arrested and charged with murder. A Karnal court gave its verdict on March 30 this year awarding death penalty to five of the accused and life imprisonment to two, including a Khap panchayat leader.
Naturally enough, this verdict upset the Khap leaders who realised that if they functioned like kangaroo courts and dispensed “justice” in this brutal manner, they all could one day be put behind bars and sent to the gallows. That is something they could not digest. So, they have come up with a demand that same-gotra marriages should be banned by making necessary changes in the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
Incidentally, when the marriage law was enacted, these forces had opposed the move on the ground that it upset the age-old traditions of Hindu society. Fifty five years after the enactment of the law that actually codified the Hindu practices, every sensible person admits that it stood the test of time. The Khap leaders successfully pressurised political leaders like former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and young Congress MP and industrialist Navin Jindal to support their stand.
Let it not be mistaken, the Khap panchayats are neither representative in character, nor are they elected bodies. They at best represent a section of the dominant caste in a village. Women, lower caste persons and minorities are almost always excluded from their deliberations. What’s more, even the educated young are not represented in the Khaps.
Malcolm L. Darling, an ICS officer who served in the area in the early 20th century, was startled when a Khap leader stoically told him that some communities were kept out because “they have not the intelligence to do the work” as mentioned in his celebrated book The Little Republics: Socio-economic Life and Change in Haryana Villages. In this part of the country, the situation has changed only marginally nearly a century later.
Small wonder that the “all-caste, all-Khap greater panchayat” held at Jind on May 23 and addressed by farmers’ leader Mahendra Singh Tiakit turned out to be a flop show. Visibly absent were the young and women. But that did not prevent him from threatening direct action against the government if same-gotra marriages were not banned by June 19.
It is true the Hindu Marriage Act prohibits marriages between some relatives but if custom permits, even such marriages are allowed. For instance, marriage between first cousins is allowed in certain Hindu communities in the South. In the North, the same marriage would be considered incestuous. The Act also specifically mentions the “bridegroom and the bride who are descendants up to five generation from mother’s side or father’s side cannot marry”. Customs and practices are accepted under the Hindu Marriage Act, though they differ from place to place and community to community. But ‘gotra’ is a different issue altogether. Every ‘gotra’ traces its origin to some sage like Gautam and Parashar. For instance, as pointed out by Arya Samaj leader Swami Agnivesh, in Haryana, Tomars are found among Rajputs, Jats and Dalits, which are altogether different castes. So to make marriages between Rajput Tomars and Dalit Tomars illegal is devoid of all logic.
There are no scientific methods to determine the ‘gotra’ of a person which means these are all matters of opinion that differs from one person to another. The truth of the matter is that the Khaps are not against same-gotra marriages alone. They are against marriages within the same village too. What they actually object to is love marriage.
Love marriages are an assertion of an individual’s right to choose his or her life partner. There are no statistics to prove that traditional marriages are better than love marriages. But there are enough statistics to prove that in Haryana female foeticide has been so rampant that there is now an acute shortage of brides forcing bridegrooms in the state to look for brides in poorer areas of the country.
It is surprising that the Khaps are not bothered about the unequal sex ratio while they make a mountain out of the molehill of love marriages. One reason why the Khaps survive is because the government has not been able to implement effectively the Panchayati Raj system under which power should have devolved to the elected panchayats where women enjoy reservation.
Strengthening the elected panchayats is one way to counter the Khaps. Alas, politicians bow to their dictates emboldening them to ask for the moon. The Khaps represent a decadent feudal system, which should have been consigned to the dustbin of history. It is honour killing, not love marriage that causes shame to the country.
Oman Tribune
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