R.S.Bali
Khap is a cluster of villages united by caste and geography and started some 600 years ago by the upper caste jats to consolidate their power and position.The self-styled functioning of the duly elected Panchayats in a democratic setup of a country like India has marred the basic purpose and objective for which these democratic institutions have been framed. At a time when our country is making strides in economic, science and technology, and reformations in the sectors where women are safe guarded by enacting certain laws which protect the women from the social evils prevailing in the male dominated society, we need to introspect, where we are heading to?
Today’s woman has achieved un assailable heights in all the spheres, but the Bhagpat incident reminds us all that our medieval thinking when women were considered slaves and it was Guru Nanak Dev Ji who gave them their due place in the society and campaigned to relieve the women from all the bondages of the medieval mind set. Ms Sunita William in the space an International space station but here on earth we devise the means how to put shackles around the feet of a modern and emancipated women so that she cannot venture out for shopping unescorted, nor to use mobile phones, nor leave their heads uncovered, and not to have love marriages. These Talbanised diktats came to be heard in an amorphous Khap Panchayat in Asara village of Bhagpat district of Uttar Pardesh. These dictats are a direct infringement in the basic human rights of the women who have equal opportunities and rights to reap the fruits of free India. The Bhagpat incident is not a new one. We have been listening about the diktats from Haryana where Khap Panchayts have played havoc with the lives of many young couples who eloped without caring for the caste barriers imposed by the village elders. This makes them to brazenly justify the “honour killings” of their daughters through Khap diktats. It is due to the inherent weakness of democratically elected Panchayati Raj institutions that Khap Panchayats have become powerful.
The behavior of the Khap Panchayats is against the Indian constitution and the Indian state. But our politicians are not interested to nip the evil in the bud which is assuming alarming proportions and under scoring the writ of the constitution of India. The politicians are more interested in vote banks rather than to stem this dangerous onslaught on the democratic institutions and constitution of India which like a contagious disease is spreading particularly in North India. Chief Minister of Uttar Pardesh Akhilesh Yadav avoided a direct answer to a question posed by media person on the subject fearing backlash of Muslim voters who have voted him to power in the recently held elections in UP. Similarly the president of the Rashtriya Lok Dal Ajit Singh, currently Union Civil Aviation Minister with the Govt of India who has literally inherited the Bhagpat Lok Sabha constituency from his father Chaudhry Charan Singh is also shirking to oppose the diktats of Khap Panchayat in Bhagpat for similar reasons.
Panchayats are at liberty to issue certain advisories to the inhabitants of their villages irrespective of caste, creed, sex and religion while remaining within the framework of Indian constitution, if the advisories are for the removal of social evils like child marriage, prevention of “Satti” system, domestic violence against women, sexual harassment of weaker sex, female foeticide, liquor consumption and related problems which today’s women folk encounter in their day to day life. Here question arises : why diktats are for the women folk when marauders, rapists, extortionists, murderers, communal passion inciters, and perpetrators of honor killings are roaming freely in their villages. The present need is to empower and educate the women in the fields of social values, education, morality, science & technology, vocational trades, sports and also about the legislations enacted by the central and state Govts. by organising symposiums, documentary film shows and camps like the one Maha panchayat held at Bibipur village in Haryana in which large number of women participated. It was attended by over 300 Khaps from Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pardesh in which a stern stand against female foeticides was taken and demanded murder charges be framed against those who indulge into “heinous act”.
The extra constitutional authority displayed by these so called Khap Panchayats need to be checked by bringing a bill in the winter session of the parliament so that the diktats issued by the Khaps are brought to justice and women folk as a whole is retrieved from the clutches of the elements who want to control their lives. We must endeavor to permeate the social reforms into the rural society against the wishes of Khap Panchayats which promote casteism against the backdrop of stiff opposition from men dominated Khaps.
(The writer is Chairman society for “Women Empowerment Education & Training”)
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