Khap Panchayat And Modern Age

Khap Panchayat- a caste council- has hogged media headlines for quite some time on account of its allegedly outlandish and barbaric edicts like declaring a married couple as brother and sister, ostracizing families and murder of young couples in the name of 'honour'. Many more similar revolting acts are associated with caste elements. The gravity of the situation can be gauged by the fact that the Central Government has constituted a Group of Ministers to suggest fresh legislation to deal with the problem. The author has been studying the phenomenon of Khap panchayats for the last. more than three decades. He has visited many villages where kahp related incidents have occurred in order to interact with different sections of the village society to sift chaff from the grain. Unfortunately, not much worthwhile research work has been done on this phenomenon so far. The book is the first major attempt to deal with the institution of Khap panchayat in all its dimensions, its origin, its structure, its functioning as understood by the media, judiciary, political elites etc. and its relevance or the lack of it in the modern age.

D.R. Chaudhry (b.1935) retired as an Associate Professor in English from Dayal Singh College of Delhi University. A leading activist in the teachers' movement in its formative stages in Delhi University, he has held various important positions in Haryana government, including those of Chairman, Haryana Public Service Commssion; Member, Haryana Planning Board; Member, Haryana Education Board; Member, Haryana Administrative Reforms Commission etc. His articles and book reviews have appeared in various dailies and journals of India. He edited and published a weekly newspaper from Rohtak for about ten years. Author of several books like Education and Social Relevance; Haryana at Crossroads etc, he has read papers on various aspects of Indian society in seminars at different places. His understanding of society is as much informed by his activism as by his academic pursuits.

Khap Panchayat- a caste council- has hogged media. headlines for quite some time on account of its allegedly outlandish and barbaric edicts like declaring a married couple as brother and sister, ostracizing families and murder of young couples in the name of honour. Many more similar revolting acts are associated with caste elements like stripping a woman, mass rape of a woman to take revenge, stuffing shoe into mouth of man and parading him in the streets of a village, blackening the face of some body and putting him up on a donkey and taking him round in the village and other such inhuman acts. Protagonists of Khap panchayats vehemently deny all this and claim that this institution has always played a positive role in society and various kinds of honour crimes are committed by the concerned families and Khaps have no role in this. All such claims and counter claims need to be examined dispassionately before rushing to any judgment. I have been studying the phenomenon of Khap panchayats for the last more than three decades. I have visited many such villages where Khap related incidents have occurred, alone or with some other social activists in order to interact with different sections of the village society to sift chaff from the grain. Unfortunately, not much. worthwhile research work has been done on this phenomenon so for. However, I have gone through whatever material I could lay my hands on, published or otherwise. It is, in fact, the human material which has proved more enlightening to have a peep into the essence of the phenomenon. It is not feasible to acknowledge the contribution of every individual who has helped me in this connection over a long period of time. However, some do deserve special mention.

**Contents and Sample Pages**