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In a recent development, the SC announced that Khap Panchayats no longer have the right to 'punish' adult couples in an inter-caste marriage. Read here.
In a recent development, the SC announced that Khap Panchayats no longer have the right to ‘punish’ adult couples in an inter-caste marriage. Read here.
In a judgement declared on Tuesday, 16th Jan 2018, the apex court of the country has pronounced it illegal for Khap Panchayats, i.e., the informal judiciaries found in small rural areas, to take any form of action against men and women who are of age and choose to marry in a different caste.
“Adults can get into marriages of their choice and no panchayat, khap, individual, society can question them,” the SC said, as reported in the Times Of India.
This comes as some truly positive news against the regressive customs that let honour killings become prevalent in areas under such panchayats. We are all aware of the inhumane murders of numerous men and women who rebelled against the old customs of caste and went for an inter-caste marriage. These Khap Panchayats have also been infamous for letting this evil flourish under the garb of maintaining ‘traditions’ and the ‘honour’ of the concerned families.
The court has also been asked to enforce a body for the protection of these couples, but that decision is yet to be considered, as mentioned in the same article by the Times Of India above. Just making these actions illegal is obviously not enough, but we can hope that it’s a start of decision making in this domain. We desperately need the intervention of authorities in these jurisdictions where panchayats sort out matters on the basis of age-old beliefs, which mostly do not align with the current idea of justice that a citizen of India is entitled to.
I hope that the decision is revised, and made more nuanced and enforceable with the coming times and works as an axe against this oppressively old tree of crimes in the name of honour and tradition.
This episode on the noted show Satyameva Jayate shows Khap Panchayat members talking of their views.
Top image via this video
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"I chose to go out into the remote, wild, unknown, and make it home," says entrepreneur Kiranjeet Ahluwalia Chaturvedi, who owns Birdsong & Beyond.
The story of my mountain home Birdsong & Beyond started taking shape in 2009, on the internet, the way many stories do these days.
My childhood fascination for a life in the Himalayas led to an internship with a central Himalayan NGO instead of a much prized corporate assignment. But when they offered me a full-time job, I refused. I was overcome by fear and a lack of confidence.
My other longings pulled me away – the longing to fit in, to earn validation from others. By my mid-30s, with all the trappings of a middle-class urban life in place, the call of the snows couldn’t be ignored anymore. So I got to work on it with clearer intentions and a stronger sense of what I needed for myself, and why.
Many Indian elderly are firm believers in enslaving a daughter-in-law in the name of tradition which is actually a tradition of oppression and not of religious faith.
Albeit, the popular culture has interpreted scriptures as suggesting that Kanyadaan is the supreme form of donation given to someone, the connotation that the word donation alludes to definitely objectifies the girl.
Even when the exegesis justify the act of giving away the daughter, considering it a ritual to mark the initiation of the daughter into her husband’s gotra and her becoming the part of his family tree.
There is no denial of the fact that this initiation is not required on the part of the groom thereby formally denoting the end of the filial ties with the daughter as it was popularly instructed to the bride during the Vidai ceremonies:
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