The Supreme Court on Tuesday came down heavily on khap panchayats and warned that if the Centre failed to rein in such kangaroo courts, the judiciary will step in.
Dealing with a PIl filed by NGO Shakti Vahini, a Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra on Tuesday sought the Centre’s view for enacting a law to curb the acts of violence instigated at the behest of khap panchayats. The PIl alleged that khaps ordered to ostracise or kill couples who married outside their castes or into same gotras.
A lawyer representing khaps sought to be heard in the proceedings claiming that a wrong impression about khaps was presented to the court. The Bench, also comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, said, “We are not concerned about what is said about khaps.
But what we are concerned about is that when an adult man and woman want to get married, there should be no collective action by a group or individual, be it parents, to come in between their marriage.”
Amicus curiae and senior advocate Raju Ramachandran along with advocate Gaurav Agarwal proposed some suggestions which included framing of a law. This was also the recommendation by the law Commission recently. The Centre was still busy collecting responses from States, Ramachandran said.
While an effort was made by the lawyer for khaps to suggest that khaps are changing with time, the court said, “Changes don’t take place in a regressive manner. Khaps cannot summon a girl or a boy who is adult and threaten them for getting married. Such collective action to attack boys and girls is absolutely illegal.”