Supreme Court invites Khap Panchayats to hear their views

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday invited ‘Khap Panchayats’ to hear their views before issuing any order to stop them from harassing and killing couples.

The Centre, however, fervently pleaded with the Apex Court to put in place a mechanism to monitor the crime against women by Khap Panchayats, the caste-based councils, as the police has not been able to protect the women facing ordeal at their hands.

A bench of justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai, however, said before passing any order it would like to hear the views of Khap Panchayats and said they can come before it on the next date of hearing on January 14.

The bench asked the petitioner, Shakti Vahini, an NGO, to inform various Khaps’ elders to come before it to express their views.

The Apex Court also directed additional director generals of police (law and order) of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to be present before it on January 14.

Pleading for its guidelines to stop Khap Panchayats’ dictates, Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising told the court that a mechanism is needed as they indulged in many acts which cannot be prevented under the law as some of them are not unlawful.

She referred to the cases where the women are ostracized and their heads tonsured for going against their dictates and said even the Law Commission has described Khap Panchayats as unlawful assemblies.

“There has to be declaration of law that certain violence against women is against law,” she said adding “there has to be a monitoring setup on what happens on complaint filed by women to ensure that law is activated.”

She further pleaded that “a mechanism should be put in place in terms of the apex court guidelines to deal with such cases” as it cannot be left to be dealt with only by police.

The bench, which in the beginning of hearing indicated that it might issue guidelines, said it would not be possible to monitor all such cases.

It, however, said it would examine three districts as “pilot project.”

Senior Advocate Raju Ramachandran, who is assisting the court as amicus curiae said the police must restrain any such meeting of Khaps if they assemble for the purpose of passing any dictate against women.

The Supreme Court had in June 2010 issued notices to the Centre and states on the growing cult of “honour killings” being reported from across the country.

The NGO complained that though there was a spurt in such killings in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Haryana, neither the Centre nor the state governments were taking steps to curb the menace due to “vote-bank politics.”