The Supreme Court asked the Centre on Tuesday to inform in six weeks what action it proposed to take on the proposed legislation to tackle honour killings.
Hearing a petition filed by NGO Shakti Vahini, the Court asked the Centre to also indicate on affidavit to be filed within six weeks on whether it intended to bring khap panchayats under the ambit of penal law for opposing sagotra (same gotra) marriages.
Following the law Commission’s recent report where a law on Prohibition of Interference with Matrimonial Alliance was proposed to deal with the menace of honour killing, the bench of JusticesCK Prasad and Ranjana Desai asked the Centre whether it was open to accept the Commission’s recommendation.
ASG Indira Jaising informed the Court that the Government was considering introducing amendments in the IPC. On the issue of khaps, she stated that sagotra marriages did not fall within the prohibited degrees of relationship under the Hindu Marriage Act. The Court asked ASG to place this stand on affidavit.