Khap panchayat forms panel to place its views before SC

Rohtak: The Sarva Khap Panchayat on Wednesday formed a 17-member panel to place their views effectively before the Supreme Court, which has recently sought to hear their opinion before issuing any order to curb dictated violence against young couples.

The panel, comprising advocates and khap representatives, was formed after a meeting of the khap panchayats held in Rohtak. The meeting was presided over by Hardeep Singh, chief of khap 84 and attended by scores of representatives of over 35 khaps across the state.

At the meeting, the khap or caste council leaders said they were firm on their views and would express their stand before the court on January 14. We are against the same 'gotra' and same village marriages "as these weddings infringe the century-old customs of the society," a khap leader said.

The apex court sought to hear their opinion before issuing any order to curb dictated violence against young couples.

We do not oppose the inter-caste marriages and never ever pronounced any verdict against the inter-caste weddings. But we are not in favour of same gotra and same village marriages as the people of same gotra and village belong to same clan and maintain brotherhood as per the social customs, said Khap representatives.

Om Prakash Dhankhar, chief of Haryana Dhankhar Sabha, said, "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," Dhankhar claimed.

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