KHAP PANCHAYATS VERSUS CENTRAL LAW MINISTER. Several khaps will start agitation against the Central Law Minister Sadananda Gowda for characterising khap panchayas as illegal and unconstitutional if he does not withdraw remarks. If analyzed properly Gowda remarks only mean that this traditional panchayat has no place in our Constitution and thus has no legal status. His statement does not mean that the govt. is going to ban these panchayats. Khap panchayat is a social organization and as such it cannot be banned if it works within the legal framework. This traditional panchayt had a lot of legitimacy in medieval times which it now lacks. The reason is that it is acting as a parallel judicial system and it many times have passed fatwas which have no place in our legal system-fatwas of banishing families from their villages, directly or indirectly promoting honour crimes etc. Khap mukhias should look within and reform these panchyats. In stead of interfering into marital affairs, they should concentrate on social problems like corruption, unemployment, crime against women and weaker sections, evils like dowry, unnecessary expenditure on social functions, feoticide etc. They often pass resolutions against social evils but never do anything practical to curb them. That is why they do not command much influence in society.During the recent Haryana assembly elections four khap mukhias contested elections. All the four lost and three of them forefeited even their security deposit. So khap elders must ponder over the fact of thier losing influence in society and take up positive issues to gain public support.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 15:28:56 +0000
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