Khap Panchayat bans marriages within same Gotra

Tweet

Rohtak (Haryana), Oct. 28: Under the banner of ‘Khap Panchayat’ the elders of Jat community have issued a diktat against marriages within same Gotra (clan) of their society.

Village council heads of Jat society met at a village in Rohtak district of Haryana for their ‘Khap Panchayat’ on Sunday and asked the parents not to marry their children with their prospective brides and grooms from another village, whose residents belong to same ‘Gotra’.

Speaking to the mediapersons, chief of Chorasi Khap, Hardeep Ahlawat said that the motive to stop marriages within the same ‘Gotra’ has been to preserve their traditions and cultural values.

“Marriages are a way of preserving generations and we want that the ritual to be protected. Secondly ‘Gotra’ is a means of social identity for people of a village. Even medical science does not support marriages in the same Gotra,” said Hardeep Ahlawat.

Sharing similar thoughts, village council head of Dhankhad Khap, Chowdhury Om Prakash said that there is a need to amend Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 to thwart incidents like sexual assault, rape, female foeticide and honour killings.

“It is important to make amendments in the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 due to spate in cases of sexual assault, rape, foeticide and honour killings. Today’s generation is shielding themselves with the existing laws and the youth has become hopeless. Watching television and engaging in different forms of media have corrupted the mindsets of the youth. So we want to preserve our basic traditions and rituals as enlisted on December 18, 1952 by the resolution for every clan, caste and tribe,” said Chowdhury Om Prakash.

Although the Khap Panchayats in Haryana state have earned the wrath of modern society for their conservative outlook, they are determined to carry forward their suggestions vis-a-vis doing away with the marriageable age limit, claiming that this will keep a check on crimes against women and allied affairs.(ANI)