The latest case pertains to Randhir Singh Legha of Samaspur village of Bhiwani district. His family was socially boycotted by the khap panchayat and asked to leave the village after his son Shribhagwan of Rajasthan police refused to annul his marriage with Anita Phogat of a nearby village. The panchayat said that since the two villages had 'bhaichara', Shribhagwan and Anita could not marry as, “according to the prevailing social norms”, they were brother and sister. It ordered that “if Randhir (who said that he had already disowned his son) refused to leave village, his family will be thrown out of the village and his whole property brought under the panchayat.” Anita sought the intervention of Haryana government and high court to ensure the safety of her in-laws. The family charged that the panchayat members wanted to grab their property.

The situation took a violent turn last week when a group of 35 to 40 youths surrounded Randhir Singh's house and pelted stones. Although a police constable who felt helpless was posted at their house, no tangible action has so far been taken against the attackers. The old man and his wife saved themselves by locking themselves in a room.

Haryana's khap panchayats have been drawing flak from the enlightened sections of people. Even the Punjab and Haryana court has expressed serious concern over the diktats issued by such bodies. In a recent case relating to a PIL filed by an NGO, Lawyers for Human Rights International, Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal said that “khap panchayats are not above the Constitution. This is not Afghanistan, this is India. Talibani courts cannot be allowed here.”

The state's successive rulers, including the present Congress government, have been taking credit for making Haryana a modern and an economically developed state. But they have been reluctant to take action against these bodies which act as a parallel government and whose activities pose a threat to law and order. Even the Governor in his address to the Assembly last week, while reiterating the state government's commitment to provide social justice and security, preferred to remain mum on the khap panchayats illegal activities. Referring to the law and order situation, he merely said, “it is a matter of satisfaction that peace has been maintained in the state and there is rule of law. Minorities and weaker sections of the society remain well protected”. He ignored mentioning the state's prevailing ground realities.

It is a paradox that Haryana, once a strong centre of Arya Samaj's social reforms movement and whose leading political families still claim to be the Arya Samajists, is witnessing the worst form of medieval caste prejudices. In this era when inter-caste, inter-community and even inter-nation marriages are no longer a taboo, Haryana's youths are being made a target for their supposedly “same gotra” marriages by illegal and unconstitutional bodies. They and their families are socially boycotted, expelled from their ancestral places and some of their young offspring have even been eliminated.

Haryana's successive rulers who claim to have transformed the state into a modern and progressive polity have been reluctant to take action against khap panchayats. When they are questioned about the illegal activities of these bodies, they merely say that “it is a social problem and the law will take its own course”. How the law takes its own course is best illustrated by the police first dilly-dallying to register FIRs and when forced to do so, avoiding taking action against the law-breaking khap panchayats. Even the babas and yoga gurus who sermonize on eradicating social evils keep themselves more occupied in money-making avocations and nursing political ambitions.

Our politicians forget that once “sati”, dowry, and some other social evils also used to be described as social problems. But laws were enacted to curb these evils. If the existing laws are inadequate to rein in the khap panchayats, why do our rulers hesitate to enact stringent laws to curb the khap panchayts' illegal activities? In fact, it is vote bank politics which make our politicians, both of ruling and opposition parties, hesitate even to speak, much less take steps, against these unconstitutional bodies. They, perhaps mistakenly, believe that the coteries of khap panchayat leaders command influence over large chunk of votes. It was only Haryana's veteran former minister Shamsher Singh Surjewala who reportedly spoke against khap panchayats condemning their Taliban-like actions.

If Haryana's politicians sincerely want the state to completely come out of its medieval mindset and become a really progressive and modern society, they need to collectively fight the khap panchayats menace. A united fight will help overcome fears of those who think that their opposition to such bodies will result in their losing votes and prove advantageous for those who prefer to keep mum against these panchayats activities.

Haryana needs real and not fake well-wishers if it wants to become India's No. one state. (IPA Service)