We spend lakhs on our kids, will decide who they marry: Khaps

ROHTAK: The head of UP’s most influential khap has said the Supreme Court’s interference in their “personal matters” would encourage honour killings.

“The marriage of our children is our sole business. We invest around `30-40 lakh on their education and upbringing… but when it comes to marriage, they run away and live with a girl of the same gotra or village under the protection of the police as directed by the Supreme Court,” said Naresh Tikait, who heads the Balyan Khap in Muzaffarnagar as well as the Bharatiya Kisan Union, a powerful Jat farmers’ body.

Marrying within clan or village is taboo in the khap belt that spreads across Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

The Supreme Court protection to youngsters, added Tikait, encouraged them to marry within their clans (gotras) and subsequently led to honour killings by parents, who were “forced” to take the “extreme step” to “save face”.

Despite their regressive views, political parties across the spectrum keep khaps in good humour because of the power they wield over their communities. Khaps have been fighting for an amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, to prohibit marriage within clans.

In 2011, the top court called khap panchayats illegal “kangaroo courts”, adding that the honour killings they sanctioned were nothing but “barbaric and shameful” murders.

>> IN FOCUS, P10