Attempting to correct perception Khap Panchayats on a public relations offensive

NEW DELHI: In the ongoing debate over women’s rights, khap panchayats have generally been regarded as holdouts of traditional, caste and community based prejudice for, among other things, validating honour killings and fanning communal flames.

Now, an apex body of such panchayats has decided to embark on an exercise to correct this perception. A meeting of around 190 khap panchayats from Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh will be held in Delhi on December 14 in a bid to improve their public image and also distance them from honour killings and the association with incidents such as the Muzaffarnagar communal riots.

A website on khap panchayats designed by Sunil Jaglan, sarpanch of Bibipur village in Haryana, will also be launched. This will be an umbrella site for the khaps and provide information on decisions taken by them.

“The attempt is to make to sure that every decision taken by any khap can be found on the site, and prevent any misreporting,” said Jaglan. He said that the main agenda of the meeting of the khaps, a significant voting block in these three states, was to reflect progressive views, although some beliefs seem to be more entrenched.

“We are against female foeticide and we will be launching a campaign against it at the meeting,” Jaglan said. “The second most important thing is to bring about some changes in the Hindu Marriage Act.

We are against same gotra marriage, it’s just not allowed in our society and we want an end to it by enshrining it in the law,” said the computer sciences post graduate. Most of the honour killings and the banishment of couples are said to relate to this opposition of the khaps to people of the same gotra getting married.

But Santosh Dahia, Kurukshetra University professor and president of the women’s wing of Sarv Khap Samaj, which will also participate in the meeting, said khap panchayats had nothing to do with honour killings or the Muzaffarnagar riots as was being reported.