Khap panchayats demand ban on same-village, same-gotra marriages

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 12

Khap panchayats today demanded amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act to ban marriages within the village as well as people from the same gotra.

The khap has also announced to organise a meeting of all khap panchayats of northern India at the ‘chabootra’ (platform) of Kandela khap in Jind district in the last week of September to discuss the issue and build pressure on the government.

Representatives of various khap panchayats today met at Kandela under Tek Ram Kandela, president of the Kandela khap and national convener of the Sarv Jatiya Khap Panchayat, Haryana.

“Marriages within the same gotra and in the village where people of same gotra are in majority are deteriorating mutual brotherhood between people and resulting in tension. Even scientifically, it has been proved that marriage within the same gotra result in births of unhealthy children,” said Kandela.

He said the Kandela khap has been taking reformatory steps on social issues in the past and among its recent decisions were complete ban on playing of DJ music system and celebratory firing during weddings.

The khap today also banned hosting of lunch on the death of a person and has restricted mourning period from 13 days to seven days.

Khap leaders expressed concern over increasing trend of intoxication among youths and the declining water table in the state.

“The khap panchayats will discuss all these issues in the meeting scheduled in September,” Kandela said. The demand for amendments in the Hindu Marriage Act is not new among the khap panchayats.

In a function to mark the 251st martyrdom of prominent Jat emperor Raja Surajmal in December 2014, the Sarv Khap Panchayat had announced to launch a struggle for suitable amendments to ban same-gotra and same-village marriages in accordance with social ethos of the region.