NEW DELHI: The Centre will now maintain a detailed countrywide data of “crimes committed by khap panchayats.” Currently, there is no official database of crimes involving ‘khaps’ but the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) ‘Crime In India’ report of 2017, expected to be released by the Ministry of Home Affairs in the coming days, will document such crimes.
Experts said registration of these crimes would help in ascertaining the extent of criminal activities involving khaps and in identifying the most vulnerable areas.
But they said the authorities should collect countrywide data of crimes involving khaps and not restrict themselves to just two-three States where khap panchayats are most prevalent. “This is an important move and will help the authorities in preventing crimes involving khap panchayats. But the authorities collecting data should be careful in ensuring that data of such crimes is not restricted to Haryana, Rajasthan and UP where khap panchayats are the common name of such kinship groups,” a noted human rights activist working in Rajasthan said.
He said such groups exist in many states but they were called by different names. “In Jharkhand for instance, such groups are called jaati panchayats but they pass equally regressive rulings,” he said.
A spokesperson of Haryana’s Sarva Khap Jat Panchayat said the move was an attempt to paint the khaps as a group of criminals.
“Khaps have never committed any crime. It is because of khap panchayats that India’s culture and values are intact in many parts of the country,” said Sube Singh Samain. Samain made national headlines in 2012 when he suggested that lowering the marriage age of women would prevent rapes.
Khap panchayats are caste or community groups and they are largely present in rural areas. They act as quasi-judicial bodies and pronounce harsh punishments based on age-old customs.
Punishments range from fines, flogging and ostracising errant members to rapes and even honour killings. There is largely no rule of law followed in handing out decisions or meting out punishments.
The country registered as many as 251 honour killings in 2016 against 28 in 2014, the year from which the NCRB started maintaining a record of such incidents.