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| How many more must die for love before it's curtain call for khaps and their feudal power? |
Shaweta Anand Delhi
Even though the recent film Khap elicited lukewarm response at the box-office, it did ruffle feathers within khaps (unelected, caste panchayats)
of Haryana who demanded an immediate ban on the film. They said the
film misrepresented Indian culture as it 'portrayed them in bad light'.
Despite the poor response, the film did succeed in boldly highlighting the barbaric, feudal acts that khaps
have perpetrated against couples-in-love for the first time on silver
screen, even if it meant going against the powerful political class of
Haryana that openly supports khaps.
With an eye on the electoral equations, he has given them a kind hearing whenever they held khap mahapanchayats (large gatherings of many khaps)
and demanded from him an amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 to
criminalise same-gotra (clan/sub-caste) marriages, otherwise legal in
India. Om Prakash Chautala, ex-chief minister from the opposition party,
too, has raised the same demand with the Union home ministry in order
to appease the upper-caste vote bank. Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder
Singh Hooda had also tacitly backed the khaps.
Not far behind in regressive politicking is a representative of the
younger generation, foreign-educated MP and industrialist from
Kurukshetra, Naveen Jindal. Despite his exposure to a more liberal
society, he had glorified the role of feudal khaps in society,
arguing that they have been playing an important role in the settlement
of village issues since generations, much before the formal legal system
came into being. It was only when the Congress high command asked him
for a clarification after he had attended a khap mahapanchayat, that he slightly backtracked from his stand.
'Honour' crimes, whether committed by organised upper-caste khaps
(mostly Jats and Rajputs as reported by popular media), or individuals,
comprise a broad range of acts from quiet murders passed off as
suicides, to pre-mediated, long-drawn public humiliation and social
boycott of those targeted for forming alliances across caste (for
instance, between upper-caste girl and Dalit boy), religion, or for
making swagotra alliances (ie, within the same gotra. Historically, people from same gotra are believed to be descendents of the same rishi/saint, hence siblings, according to Hinduism.)
Besides, family 'honour' sometimes also gets violated if girls refuse
to follow 'acceptable' dress-codes, refuse forced arranged marriages,
or engage in homosexual relationships, as all these are blindly
denounced as blasphemous, 'un-Indian' activities influenced by Western
culture.
According to the draft bill circulated by CPM's women's wing, All
India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) — The Prevention of Crimes
in the Name of 'Honour' and Tradition Bill, 2010 — crime in the name of
'honour' comprises a range of violent or abusive acts, including
emotional, physical, sexual abuse and other coercive acts by
caste/community groups or individuals. The bill was submitted to the
Union law minister last year, but no action has been taken upon it yet.
Commenting on the oppressive nature of khaps, activist Ranjana Kumari said that a Taliban-like diktat was issued by a recently convened khap panchayat
in Uttar Pradesh. "It was decided at that meeting that young girls and
women shouldn't be allowed to wear jeans or carry mobile phones so that
they can be prevented from 'going astray'." Kumari was speaking at a
recent consultation in Delhi on 'the socio-legal implications of honour
killing' jointly organised by Women Power Connect (WPC) and Jagori at
Vishwa Yuvak Kendra. To ensure effective policing of village girls, at
that very meeting, five-member all-women teams were constituted to 'keep
an eye' on them as their western attire would supposedly give rise to
social evils like 'vulgarity' and 'eve-teasing', besides 'provoking them
to elope' with someone.
| Honour’ crimes comprise a broad range of acts from quiet murders passed off as suicides, to pre-mediated, long-drawn public humiliation and social boycott of those targeted for forming alliances across caste, religion, or for making alliances within the same gotra. |
It is, in fact, anti-women
beliefs such as these that lead to crimes against women and those who
support them – and this is often done in the name of safeguarding
'honour'. A large number of cases have been reported from rural and
urban Haryana, western UP, Delhi and Punjab, with states like Jharkhand,
Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu catching up fast.
Under public pressure and progressive directions by the Supreme
Court, the central government appointed a Group of Ministers (GoM) last
year to look into the legislative aspect of preventing 'honour' crimes.
Nothing much has come of that exercise as the concerned states are not
cooperating (Haryana, in particular), law and order being a state
subject.
While acknowledging that feudal-minded groups or individuals take
'corrective' action against people who break traditional social norms,
Anju Dubey Pandey, a participant at the WPC-Jagori consultation, urged
people to use language more consciously as it is a potent tool of
politics.
For instance, the term 'honour crime' reiterates the unfair,
women-centric implication of the word 'honour'. 'Dishonour crime' and
'horror crime' (used by Kumari) bring out more accurately the
insensitivity, intolerance and ruthlessness of acts of violence against
women who resist customs, and the people who support them. In fact,
usage of 'dishonour crime' was accepted at WPC's consultation last year
as these crimes certainly bring dishonour to perpetrators than protect
their honour in any way.
While taking slight offence to the words used by one of the panelists when she was passionately narrating an instance of a khap panchayat
wrongly punishing a couple-in-love, "because they were found in a
compromising position", Pandey urged everyone to be cautious of such
regressive expressions that are often used in describing mutual acts
between consenting adults, as the concerned adults were only exercising
their human rights.
Elaborating further, she affirmed, "Dishonour crimes should be seen
as a far greater violation of basic human rights (and, therefore, in
that framework, invoke the entire law-and-order machinery to
pro-actively respond) than anything that can possibly result from the
breaking of social norms. Our framework informs our politics and the
solutions we suggest for resolving issues." Pandey is associated with UN
Women South Asia. She spoke with this reporter in an exclusive
interview.
| To ensure effective policing of village girls, five-member all-women teams were constituted to ‘keep an eye’ on them as their western attire would supposedly give rise to social evils like ‘vulgarity’ and ‘eve-teasing’, besides ‘provoking them to elope’ with someone. |
Dr Jyotsna Chatterji, Director,
Joint Women's Programme explained how the age-old practices that oppress
women and the assertion of caste identity reinforce each other when khaps
pronounce diktats against couples. She said, "This need to constantly
establish one's caste identity is driven by deep-rooted patriarchal
beliefs within groups, which in turn legitimises for them the domination
by men and violence against women, including inciting or participating
in dishonour crimes."
"Thus, efforts to preserve caste purity by khaps, and their
justification for anti-women practices like controlling who they marry
or live with, both go hand-in-hand. So to deal with one (casteism), one
has to deal with the other (patriarchy) too," she elucidated.
A good illustration is the Supreme Court judgement on the Lata Singh
case (2006) wherein the petitioner had married outside her caste against
her brothers' wishes, who subsequently blatantly tormented her and her
in-laws. The court categorically stated: "The caste system is a curse on
the nation and the sooner it is destroyed the better. In fact, it is
dividing the nation at a time when we have to be united to face
challenges... Hence, inter-caste marriages are, in fact, in national
interest as they will result in destroying the caste system."
The court rapped the police for not taking action against the erring
brothers, upheld the inter-caste marriage of the petitioner, gave
directions to institute criminal proceedings against the brothers, while
simultaneously quashing the case of kidnapping and illegal confinement
in Lucknow High Court, based on the FIR filed by Lata's brothers.
While the social punishment continues in the dishonour killing case
of Manoj and Babli who were bludgeoned and drowned to death in 2007,
their already traumatised families are still not allowed to lead normal
lives. The psychological pain for Chandrapati (Manoj's mother) and Seema
Kumari (his sister), who courageously went to Court against the khap, persists.
The torture was achieved by inflicting restrictions upon villagers.
Soon after the couple was killed, a fine of Rs 25,000 was imposed on
anyone who would interact with their family! Understandably, even the
milkman discontinued engagement with them. Even though AIDWA has written
to the Ministry of Home Affairs for their protection, threats to their
safety abound as the family continues to oppose khaps.
"Unfortunately, the suffering of families that go against a handful of self-styled khap
leaders is bound to happen as these are a powerful lot of men from
higher caste and class, who command authority in the village and exploit
the vulnerable as they please. Villagers are genuinely scared to go
against their diktats," said Bharati Sud, Associate Professor at
Satyawati College, DU, also a participant.
When it comes to asserting power and authority, many cases have been
reported. Like the case of upper-caste men stopping Dalits from using
well water in Jhajjar as their daughters 'ran away' with 'their' boy.
The issue was 'resolved' only when the girls (one was with the boy, the
other feared reprimand so escorted them) were brought back and duly
butchered to retrieve 'family honour'.
Talking of instilling fear in villagers, even cops who marry outside caste have not been spared by khaps. Mewat-based khap
attacked, boycotted and tried to break the marriage of a police
officer-cum-champion wrestler from the Reserve Battalion, Bhondsi, who
married within same gotra but as per Muslim tradition (to avoid
complications). Despite legal action against them, his family still
lives under constant threat.
Coming back to the Manoj-Babli case, even in death, what they
achieved for couples-in-love was a landmark judgement by the Karnal
district Court in 2010, when in a first-time conviction for 'honour'
crimes, five people from Babli's family were awarded capital punishment,
one was awarded life imprisonment and another, seven years in jail.
However, a recent Punjab and Haryana High Court judgement commuted
death penalty to four convicts to life imprisonment and let go two
others, including the main conspirator, Congress leader and head of khap,
Ganga Ram. This has brought back shivers to the already ostracised
family of Manoj, his mother and sister, who fear for their life and
safety.
"What can one achieve if the judiciary is also patriarchal and either
doesn't punish at all or gives reduced punishment in cases of dishonour
crime," wondered Pandey, though not in particular reference to the
Manoj-Babli case.
Most speakers on the panel agreed that dishonour crimes related to
'honour' reposed in women, who are primarily conceptualised as male
possessions in a patriarchal world order. So when an 'unsuitable' match
takes away the girl, it is a loss of 'honour' for that family. The
family then fights back for its 'honour' by targeting, even killing the
girl and her accomplices, as has often been reported.
" That women are not treated equal to men is clear from the high
rates of female feticide, poor education and lack of opportunities for
women," lamented Kumari. "In fact, women don't even get to participate
in unilateral decisions that khaps take as they are not even
allowed to step on their chabutara (raised platform). Though now, few
women are made visible at some places to avoid the tag of khap panchayats being male-dominated institutions," she said.
Condemning all forms of violence against women, including dishonour
crimes, Mamta Sharma, Chairperson, National Commission for Women,
promised her solidarity with civil society organisations while urging
them to engage with people in the villages and to generate awareness
amongst them.
Promising support was Devika Singh Chauhan from the newly instituted
National Mission for Empowerment for Women, which was inaugurated by the
President of India Pratibha Patil last year.
The mission has a mandate to achieve inter-sectoral convergence for
all pro-women programmes across various ministries of the government,
including helping complainants who have been targets of dishonour
crimes.
A point of debate was whether a stand-alone law was needed to deal
with the issue at hand. Supreme Court advocate Meenakshi Lekhi was of
the opinion that existing laws were sufficient and needed effective
implementation.
She emphasised that feminists should behave like 'one caste of women'
and not fight over whether or not to have a special law for dishonour
killing. In reference to a recent Supreme Court judgment that terms
'honour' killing as 'rarest of the rare cases' deserving death penalty,
she said, "We should try and get law-of-the-land enforced."
(Interestingly, Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda doesn't want a new
law on 'honour' killing either. In his response to the specially
appointed GoM for considering legislative measures regarding 'honour'
crimes, he was of the opinion that new law was unnecessary as present
laws were 'sufficient'.)
Ravi Kant, however, disagreed with this point. According to him,
amendments in existing law were crucial for instance in the Special
Marriage Act (to make marriage procedure less lengthy and painful for
couples as it is an alliance between consenting adults) and the Indian
Evidence Act (to put onus of proving innocence on the perpetrators),
besides supporting a new legislation to tackle these crimes. Kant is
also a Supreme Court advocate and is the Executive Director of Shakti
Vahini.
"Just like there were laws made to deal with social malpractices like
sati pratha (widow burning) and dowry, there should also be a
well-defined legislation on dishonour crimes that stipulates the
severest punishment to law-breakers," vouched Ranjana Kumari. "Since it
is a specific social problem, we need a specific law to deal with it,"
she stressed.
The Law Commission, Ministry of Law and Justice, has come out in
support of a special legislation to deal with 'honour' killings while
turning down the proposal to amend IPC Section 300 (murder) by adding a
clause defining 'honour' killing as that would 'create confusion and
interpretational difficulties'.
| The term ‘honour crime’ reiterates the unfair, women-centric implication of the word ‘honour’. ‘Dishonour crime’ and ‘horror crime’ bring out more accurately the insensitivity, intolerance and ruthlessness of acts of violence against women who resist customs, and the people who support them. |
A recent draft bill on 'honour'
killings titled 'The Endangerment of Life and Liberty (protection,
prosecution and other measures) Act 2011', stipulates a three-five year
imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 30,000 for caste-groups assembling
with an intention of endangering lives or liberty of couples who want to
marry. Those booked would face civil sanctions too; they would not be
able to contest elections of hold public positions till five years of
conviction.
Towards the concluding session of the WPC-Jagori meet, suggestions
were discussed regarding future action. Smita Thakur of Jagori felt that
all women need to start asserting themselves even at home for being
able to ultimately stop dishonour killing – an anti-women act at its
core. "We should promise ourselves that we will not tolerate dishonour
crimes and resist them if they happen in front of us," she emphatically
declared.
There was a suggestion of social networking from the audience
to unite people over this common cause, but again, as Sud argued, social
networking is limited and can at best be a method of sharing
information, but it is no substitute for real protests that happen in
the streets. Tara Appachu Sharma, a gender consultant, suggested that
there should be protests against dishonour crimes the same day all over
the country to build a momentum and drive home the point. Lekhi said
that 'flash protests' should be held at various places, especially
outside the Delhi house of khap-supporting MP, Naveen Jindal to sensitise him.
Chatterji opined that to deal with the issue of dishonour crimes, one
has to see them coming from a deeply casteist and patriarchal mindset
of society. "Any changes will become effective only when they come from
the bottom, after active engagement with people. Just law won't be
enough," she said.
