The declaration by the khap in Uttar Pradesh and cowardice by politicians in reaction ..

Everybody agrees that rural India is very conservative; and there have so many cases in the recent past where panchayats in the states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh actually punished people who have broken their definition of moral rules and even killed many of these transgressors, or encouraged their family members to do so. Whenever such a news comes out, there is the usual hand-wringing where the media objects to these actions, and the government ministers and functionaries say something against the action of these unelected panchayats, but really don’t take any detailed action. Only when the crime has been huge is there enough action to cause a court case and prosecution. Even in this one, politicians who are dependent on these areas for support and for votes are afraid of going against these khap (caste) panchayats, and hence are muted or sometimes even speak up for these panchayats in some way or the other, or demand a go slow of action of against them.
In the last few days, there has been another case like this, where the crime is not so heinous, but this is like an enabling legislation (an enabling legislation is where a law which is passed is meant to allow certain further laws to be passed building on the passed legislation). The khap panchayat passed a diktat meant to restrict the few cases where local girls have run away (allegedly with some dalit youth); how do these girls manage to elope ? They come into contact with these youth when they either step out of the house, like going to the market or somewhere else, or they remain in contact with these youth through mobile phones; so the answer was a simple answer. Do not let these girls out of the home unescorted, do not let them use a mobile phone, and they should move out of the house only with their head covered, and those who have had love marriages should not be allowed to enter the villages, since their actions are a bad influence.

This diktat by the khap panchayat was criticized very heavily by the media and by women’s organizations. The sweeping restrictions put by the panchayat points out that if girls have a phone, they will do bad things; if they move out around without somebody to keep a watch on them, then they will meet young boys and could possibly have relationships with them. And this is not in the backward Taleban ruled areas of Afghanistan or Pakistan, this is 50 km from the national capital of one of the brightest developing countries in the world. Further, this in the constituency that is almost the family constituency of the national Airlines Minister, who is also educated in the United States.
And what do many politicians say ? The politicians from the constituency weasel out, scared of taking a stand that might lose them votes; the young Chief Minister of the state, coming to power with a thumping mandate refuses to comment on this. One would have expected the Chief Minister to take a much more forthright stand against the illegal authority of a caste based panchayat to introduce laws suppressing the freedom of a women. If this illegal stand taken by the khap panchayat is not opposed, this will not be the end of it; sooner or later, more draconian measures will be proposed to stop the younger generation from taking steps that are opposed by a section of people who feel that these offend their moral feelings; even if these have no problems from the perspective of the law of the land.