Myth and Reality of the Khap Panchayats: A Historical Analysis of the Panchayat and Khap Panchayat*

Abstract

During the past few years, marriages within ‘gotra’ (clan) of the Jat community have come into the limelight. Frequently, those couples who have eloped have been brutally murdered by the diktats of the elders—these are known as ‘honour killings’. Many such incidents have occurred in Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh and the rural belt of Delhi. These areas have reaped the fruits of modernization and access to various facilities such as educational institutions, health centres, modernized roads and multinational business establishments that have encouraged foreign investment. There exists a vast gulf between this modernization and the almost feudal mind sets of people like the ‘Khap Panchayats’ who force couples who have entered intra-gotra marriages to return to the community fold, even to the extent of forcing the couples to live like siblings. A large number of such wedded couples have even lost their lives. Thus, as per their gotra affinity, the Khap Panchayats consider them as brother and sister. The Khap Panchayats try to legitimize their actions by quoting historical antecedents of uncertain origin to support their practices. They are of the opinion that the Khap Panchayat is an age old institution, having its foundation in the early medieval period.