‘In the Name of Honour:

Khap Panchayats & Honour Killings’

            The only ‘crime’ of Manoj and Babli, a cupid struck couple, was that they belonged to the same gotra. Their marital knot invited the wrath of Khap panchayats, the kangaroo courts of northwestern India. Preventing same gotra marriage has been the single most important agenda of this anachronistic but extremely powerful institution. Family members of Babli kidnapped the couple and brutally murdered them, as ordered by the Khap.

                                                  Iconic picture of Manoj and Babli

            Many cases can be cited where couples have been killed in cold blood. Many marriages have been dissolved and legally wedded wives forced to accept their husbands as brothers.  Family members of such couples have been ostracized or banished from their villages.

 Is choosing a life partner not a basic human right under the United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights (1948)? Is it not a Fundamental Right under the ‘Right to Life’ of India’s Constitution (Article 21)? Does the Special Marriage Act, passed 6 decades ago, not confer the right of choosing a spouse irrespective of any identity?

Many political, economic and social factors have enabled shocking writs of Khaps to be the last word.  Such is their hold on social psyche that their diktats turn blood relatives into savage murderers while officials turn a blind eye.

Honour Rides on Women

            Human Rights Watch defines "honor killings" as acts of vengeance, usually death, committed by male family members against female family members, who are held to have brought dishonor upon the family. A woman can be targeted by  her family for a variety of reasons, including: refusing to enter into an arranged marriage, being the victim of a sexual assault, seeking a divorce—even from an abusive husband—or (allegedly) committing adultery.

             An Amnesty International statement adds that the regime of honour is unforgiving.  Women on whom suspicion has fallen are not given an opportunity to defend themselves, and family members have no socially acceptable alternative but to remove the stain on their honour by attacking the woman.

Although reported in all parts of the World, West and South Asia have been particularly notorious.  Women's groups in the Middle East and Southwest Asia suspect that more than 20,000 women are honor killed each year. Migrants from these regions have been found to indulge in it even in Western countries.

            In India, honour killings are practiced largely in the northwestern part in the states of Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, especially among upper castes, as a result of people marrying without their family's acceptance, and sometimes for marrying outside their caste or religion. Alarmed by the rise of honor killings, the Supreme Court of India issued notices to the Central Government and six states to take preventive measures against honor killings.

Khap Panchayats

            Khap panchayats are social organizations of clans and gotras dating back to 600 AD. Historically they played an important role in amicably settling disputes before the advent of judiciary. They comprise representatives of 12 villages each and are headed by a Sarva Khap comprising representatives of 300 khaps. These khaps are clustered in the states of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

They are distinct from the panchayats under the constitution and do not have any legal standing. In fact, Supreme Court has heavily criticized them for promoting honour killing and highlighted the need to stamp out the feudal psyche they espouse.

            Today they strive to uphold the traditional values of their society. The most important among which is preventing intra-gotra marriage. The term ‘gotra’ refers to people belonging to the same clan. The origin of the word, according to historians, is in the Vedic period. ‘Gotra’ then meant a cowshed where cows of a single clan were tethered. In later times it became an important identity and sharing of ‘gotra’ now meant having the same lineage.

            The khap panchayats believe that members of the same khaps are siblings marital relations between whom is incest. Hence they have taken up the mission of preventing it. At times they have carried the agenda further by disallowing same and adjoining village marriages and marriages into one’s mother and even grandmother!

            Contrary to popular perception, the khap panchayats themselves don’t kill. Instead they build tremendous social pressure on the parents of ‘erring’ couples to kill them and wash the ‘stains on their honour.’ Ordering boycotts, stopping of business transactions, forcefully banishing etc are some of the social punishments inflicted on helpless parents.

            They often cite science saying inbreeding leads to genetic disorders to justify their diktats. But from the foregone analysis and from research of scholars  it is evident that the couples are hardly connected to each other for this to be true. Also cross cousin marriages and uncle- niece marriages in some Southern states have not showed any such problems.

Reasons for Regressive Outlook

            The area of Khap Panchayats overlaps with the area of skewed sex ratio in India. The states of Haryana and Punjab are particularly infamous with the least sex ratio in adults as well as 0-6 age group.

Because of the dwindling number of women polyandry has become prevalent in many parts and buying women from other states as wives too is being practiced. This has created grave security concerns for women and their rights at home.

In this scenario, women have emerged as an asset for a Khap. The more the number of women in a Khap, the higher is its prestige thus turning women into a commodity. An intra-gotra is not only a prestige loss but also the loss of an asset. Hence to curb such occurrences and create a lesson for others Khap panchayats come down heavily on those erring.

Economy too has played its part. Due to Green Revolution there has been prosperity in the agricultural class unlike in other parts of the country. In addition, the opening of the economy has hugely benefitted this region due to its proximity to the capital. Infrastructure, industries, employment and education are available. With this has come the process of urbanization of small towns and villages and coming of modern values. Media has connected the youth with the World and increased their awareness about their rights.

As a result the youth, especially women, aren’t willing to be subjected to the whims of an ancient institution and demand to be masters of their destiny. This has created an unprecedented challenge for the Khaps struggling to come to terms with the changing society. Naturally, they have reacted with all the ferocity at its disposal.

Also since the challenge is from the so called ‘weaker sex’, male chauvinistic and feudal characteristics of the society have been unleashed leading to atrocities against women. This feudal psyche thrives on suppressing of women and modern values.

Reasons for Impunity

            The khaps are of tremendous political utility for leaders cutting across political lines. They have gigantic money and muscle power and can decisively influence the electorate. Hence no political leader can risk his career by antagonizing them. It is no wonder then no political leader has spoken against them.

            With their political bosses mum how can officials be expected to take on the khaps? Government machinery is often found turning a blind eye to such cases. For instance the police assigned to protect Manoj and Babli deserted them before they were murdered.

            Also since khaps themselves don’t kill it is very difficult to make its members culpable for homicide in a court of law. Even establishing the social pressures they created on the families is an uphill task. As a result conviction rates are low.

            Flaws in our judicial system have also played a role in abetting such crimes. Huge pendency of cases, appeals, frequent stays, expensive legal aid, burden of proof on prosecution, low conviction rate etc result in miscarriage of justice. As a result the prestige of khaps as a parallel dispute settlement system has increased and has banished the fear of law from the minds of criminals. The absence of any specific law defining ‘honour killings’ and placing the culpability of murder on abettors too has emboldened khaps.

Judicial and Legislative Efforts

            In March 2010, a Karnal district court sentenced the five perpetrators in the iconic Manoj-Babli honour killing case to be executed, the first time an Indian court had done so in an honour killing case. The khap head who ordered but did not take part in the killings received a life sentence.

            Subsequently,  government’s announced its intention to introduce amendments in IPC making ‘honour killings’ a separate offence along with a separate bill in the Parliament to make the khaps members who participate in such decisions liable for capital punishment.

            The Law Commission earlier this year came up with a draft legislation which seeks to make such acts cognisable, non-bailable and non-compoundable  offences and floated a consultation paper on khap panchayats and honour killings seeking public opinion on it. The Prohibition of Unlawful Assembly (interference with the freedom of matrimonial alliances) Bill, 2011 bill proposes that offences under the Act will be tried by special courts.

Solutions

·        A strong law defining ‘honour killings’ and recognizing it as a separate crime, must be passed at the earliest.

·        Highest punishment must be awarded to members who participated in decisions leading to ‘honour killings’.

·        Any khap found guilty of abetting crimes must be banned.

·        The 30 days period under the Special Marriage Act must be abolished.

·        Amending the Evidence Act to shift the burden of proof on the accused in cases of ‘honour killings.’

·        Strict action against public officials for omission or commission of acts leading to or during investigation of ‘honour killings.’

·        Police reforms

·        Special fast track courts for deciding cases.

·        Judicial reforms

But all these measures, albeit important, will not completely eradicate the problem as they target only the symptoms and not the deep rooted disease of our patriarchal society. Thorough women’s emancipation is the only panacea.