People in India often criticise the existence, style of working and diktats by the Taliban in Afghanistan, but they are oblivious of the fact that here too exist the Sarv Khap Panchayats which are more barbaric, brazen and venomous than their counterparts in Afghanistan.
The Khap groups continue to be notorious for their ‘controversial’ orders throughout the country. They respect neither the Indian Constitution, nor Supreme Court or even the law of the land. Khap groups order the murdering of couples who marry in same gotra (clan); snatches and sells the children of those who defy its rules.
In the past, they have even ordered the punitive gangrape and murder of elderly women whose sons have eloped with another’s daughter. They even went on to say that women should only give birth to sons and all this is done in the guise of maintaining the honour and pride of their community.
And guess what, the local administration too bows down in front of this barbaric system that glorifies murder and lynching in the name of honour.
They have often been compared to Taliban and although their rulings hold no constitutional validity, they are socially very powerful and have succeeded in sticking to their so-called traditions.
The year 2014 is no different as in yet another extremely disturbing diktat by Khap in West Bengal, a 20-year old tribal woman was gangraped by at least 12 men for allegedly falling in love with a man of different community.
In the past also, we have witnessed murder, lynching, rape and gangrape in the name of honour.
Back in 2004, in a somewhat similar incident in Bhawanipur village of Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, the Khap had ordered turn-by-turn rape of a mother whose 20-year-old son eloped a girl, the daughter of an influential Yadav family. The diktat was passed in order to save the honour of Yadavs since her son had dishonoured the Yadavs. The boy belonged to the barber caste.
“Not only did they gang rape her, they burnt her alive to destroy any evidence. The police knew about it but did nothing,” said the uncle of the boy.
Taking a stern view of the atrocities committed by the self-proclaimed Khap Panchayats, the Supreme Court of India had in 2012 declared the Khap groups as illegal. The apex court described the honour killings as "shameful and barbaric" acts.
"We have in recent years heard of khap panchayats (known as katta panchayats in Tamil Nadu) which often decree or encourage honour killings or other atrocities in an institutionalised way on boys and girls of different castes and religion, who wish to get married or have been married, or interfere with the personal lives of people...," Supreme Court said.
"Atrocities in respect of personal lives of people committed by brutal, feudal-minded persons deserve harsh punishment," Justice Katju had said.
The court had then reiterated its demand for swift action against those involved in the crime of killing innocent boys and girls.
However, the so-called honour killings, rape, gangrape and other diktats by khaps continue with impunity.
The Khap Panchayat have found support from various political sections, even prominent politicians, who refuse to support campaign for curbing the power of these vigilante courts. And in the villages where their authority is unquestioned, the police often choose to ignore publically-delivered-khap verdicts that declare death for offenders.
It remains to be seen as to when laws accurately define and punish these malign anachronisms. "Until the political will is found to abolish them, Khap panchayats will continue to brew a poisonous cocktail of crime, ignorance and bigotry," says a report.
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