Haryana’s khaps, which are notorious for pronouncing its unpredicted verdicts especially in matrimonial issues, have now decided to take initiative to root social evil female foeticide out from the society, which has made an alarming imbalance in sex ratio across the State.
The khaps will form a surveillance committee at village level to work in the direction of checking the trend of female foeticide in rustic area. Apart from panchayat and khap representatives, women would also be included in the committees to make sure their participation in this social cause.Decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of Khap Mahapanchayat held at Government School in Kandela village on Wednesday. The mahapanchayat presided over by Tekram Kandela, chief of Kandela khap was attended by hundreds of representatives of over 40 khaps active in the region.
A large numbers of women and girls from Kandela and surrounding villagers were also invited in the mahapanchayat to ensure their contribution in decisions taken by the mahapanchayat during the meeting.The women and the girls also gave their consent over the decision of forming surveillance committees by raising their hands after the resolution was placed by the khap leaders before the mahapanchayat.
The khap leaders said female foeticide could not eliminate from the society completely until the men and women would be made aware about adverse future effect of this evil hence there was an urgent need of launching an awareness programme in the rustic area to motivate the people especially women not to indulge in this crime.
“Apart from forming surveillance committees, we have also decided to make the rural people aware about female foeticide so that they could abstain themselves from committing such crime,” said the khap leaders, adding that strategies to launch the awareness campaign efficiently would be decided in next meeting of the mahapanchayat that would be convened after some time.
A resolution regarding amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act 1956 was also passed unanimously at the meeting which resolved that change in the act is mandatory to check same gotra and within village weddings in the state because the existence act does not proscribe the same gotra and within village marriage.
“We are totally against same gotra and within village weddings as it fringes our century old social customs which does not allow such practice as people belonging to same gotra and same village maintain brotherhood in the state hence can not marry each other,” said the khap leaders, who also criticized the rising incidents of honour killings in the state. Naresh Tikait from Uttar Pradesh, Ram Karan Solanki from Delhi, DP Vatsa, Santosh Dahiya, Nafe Singh Nain, Om Prakash Mann were among those prominent khap leaders who expressed their views at the meeting.