Our way of life?

The Khap Panchayats of Haryana and adjoining regions have been quiet lately, which perhaps could be attributed to the criticism they have received in the media and among the general public for proving time and again about how socially backward our society still is.

The Supreme Court of India, in the wake of numerous deaths of young boys and girls killed because they dared to marry (or try to) beyond their caste in a still one of the most caste-sensitive regions of the country, declared them illegal and said that this practice needs to be stamped out. I am still unclear as to what the Honourable Supreme Court said exactly, whether the Khaps need to be stamped out or this practice of theirs needs to be stamped out. In any case, these panchayats are illegal, and need to go the way of the yesteryear princely states of India.

If one throws a cursory glance at the Khap Panchayat page of Wikipedia, one will realize that this institution, if and when it ever was one, was an important political and social group that functioned in most parts of Northern and North-Western India. They have apparently played an important role in the political history of the region and the tiny mention of their criticism in the modern era is aptly added by the line that all these allegations have been unsubstantiated.

The Honourable Supreme Court was not just talking about the dark, socially primitive practices still adapted by these Panchayats in the North, but it made a reference to the extreme caste divisions that still prevail in Tamil Nadu and other parts of South India. In this case, I have received a lot of anecdotal reference that I believe surely has truth in it. Only a few days ago, a friend who has travelled and worked in the region talked about the interiors of the state divided on such strong lines that tea-houses have difference tumblers for tea for different castes! I had sincerely believed that all parts of the country had moved beyond that by now! The fact that the Supreme Court talks about this practice removes any speck of doubt from the existence of this practice. One can read about their observations in the same Hindu link I gave above for SC's "stamping out" comment.

But no matter the level of modernity - not the materialistic one but the modernity of the mind - freedom of thought, the equality of all humans, the respect for all races, etc, these concepts are still, most unfortunately, far from the norm for the Indian society. Even such a society as ours, with its unique and vastly diverse ethos, still has some social norms that are common across the land - lack of respect for individual liberties and a narrow mind are two of them. There is an inherent belief among most Indian societies that one knows what is right for the others. How must one live one's life, how one must treat their women, their children, other caste members, and anything else. The Khap Panchayats are just one of the many institutions that regularly demonstrate this behavior.

Of course, for the yellow journalists in Indian media, of which it seems choc-a-bloc now, it becomes more interesting if they add the word "Dalit" to it, seeming to imply that its only the scheduled castes that are hurt by their primitive world view. While I do believe that certain castes indeed have bore a greater brunt of this social bullying, fighting this social bane will take this entire society forward. The media too, needs to realize that this issue is not just one of their many juicy tabloid issues, but a social churn that can have a long and permanent, and hopefully positive effect on the fabric of our society. With any social churn comes the opposition against that change, and the Khaps have begun to prepare for their long fight ahead for legitimacy and perhaps, relevance. Its not that they do not have sympathy among the political and bureaucratic class, if simply for the massive chunk of the electorate that they represent, or the fact that it wouldn't take long for them to resort to attempts to violently have their demands met.

However, in my opinion, for once, the voice of the nation appears to be stronger than the louder voice of a few. The Government of India is planning to bring an amendment to the Indian Penal Code and a few other Acts to directly hold such "Kangaroo courts" responsible. In fact, the Honour Killing Bill is to be introduced as well, with the crime being at par with murder. Now that the Supreme Court has made it amply clear what it thinks, let us prepare for the fight ahead against the Khaps who have every intention to fight it out. In fact, the Supreme Court has made it clear for a while now about what it thinks, when it awarded life sentences to 5 people for leading a young couple to their deaths for marrying.

One idiot Congress neta says that it is impossible to fully understand all the reasons behind an honour killing "sitting in their rooms". Other Congress netas from those regions fully support the Panchayats. I am surprised that nobody is pointing to them the most obvious point - the lives of these young men and women are not their's to decide upon. As an editorial in Indian Express points out (the link is the same as the Honour Killing Bill link), individuals have every right to marry whoever they choose, and if the families, the society has a problem, talk to them, be angry, shout, maybe ask them to leave, but under no circumstance do they have a right to kill them, and/or mentally torture their families. 

As the recent census has pointed out, material affluence is in no way a guarantee that any society becomes progressive socially. Haryana, Punjab, and regions adjoining them lead the nation in gender imbalance. Even this "dishonour killing", comes from this same old Indian male chauvinist mentality, that the male society knows whats best for its women. We have still such a long way to go!