|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Khap panchayats of Haryana have become a hot topic for discussion, thanks to the aberrations that have crept in, self-acquired arbitration and issuance of edicts bordering on kangaroo justice and tribal dispensation, in their system. Their might has stifled analysis and criticism. Confronting them and questioning their mores and methods in their land is unthinkable. They have the audacity to ostracise and override.
Marriage within this set of attributes is not allowed in Haryana to "maintain the purity of blood," and for "A more cohesive cohabitation," in consonance with an adopted socio-fraternal existence. The khap zealots argue, "Any kind of sexual relations between two sexes in a particular khap is rightly treated as incest as the offspring of such an alliance would have genetic disorders." Quoting from an article, "Modern man interbred with extinct relatives," Chaudhry counters, "The khap ideologues' notion of genetic code between a fixed entity traversing from generation to generation is a fiction." The book is dedicated to, "Those boys and girls who fell victims in the name of family honour." He records 30 such cases. Chaudhry vehemently comes down upon the perpetrators of the crime and also the ones who collude in the conspiracy of silence. "Important community leaders, with intrinsic links with their respective khaps, are highly resourceful and operate behind the scenes, thus escaping the rigour of law. Others become victims of their lethal rhetoric," says the author. He talks about the rights of a girl in her parents' property, which is unacceptable to patriarchal khaps. Chaudhry lauds the role of courts and media in addressing the issues. He, however, is not against the khaps approaching the authorities and letting their views be projected, only if they do not resort to barbaric ways. Chaudhry believes, "Voices of sanity are few at present. Their number should increase if the khap as a social institution has to regain its relevance." The book is the result of serious, sustained research, since the material drawn is not from the traditional sources of information only, but also by way of impressions. He has travelled through the khap-influenced areas and recorded versions of those associated with the khaps. He has referred to rare documents, gazettes, chronicles, newspapers, publications and interviews. He has interacted with not only the victims of violence, but has also incorporated the aggressors’ viewpoint. Though Chaudhry's strong and justified bias against the khaps is quite evident, yet his is a holistic and well-researched critique and the only one available on the issue.
|
||
|
|
||
D. R. Chaudhry, an
academic, political thinker and commentator on Haryana affairs,
exposes a system prevalent since the medieval times, which though did
serve the purpose then of being a force to take on the might of the
questionable diktat of Delhi rulers. With time, these have been
reduced to an entity that functions in an undemocratic style. Chaudhry
traces the history of khaps as an institution
"necessitated" by the times. He analyses the loose structure
of the khaps as a "male-dominated institution with strong
patriarchal ethos," depending largely on the parameters of gotra
(initially called gaukshetra or a territory where cattle is
grazed, but later on, a sub-group of a caste owing lineage to one
common ancestor); gwaand (a cluster of adjoining villages); bhaichara
(common brotherhood of gotra and other cohabiting
partners); ekka (unity amongst those who pursued a common
goal); mostly pertaining to the Jats.