KHAP PANCHAYATS:

A SOCIO-HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

Ajay Kumar

Khap has turned into a terrifying reality. On the very

mention of the khap, the horrific faces of murdered couples in love

and images of burnt Dalit houses immediately come to our mind. The

conscious sections of the society have started to demand the

restraining of these panchayats. In its characteristic response, the

government have limited the entire issue to the confines of the

law and order problem, rather than seeking out the objective

material basis for the existence of the khaps and the judgments

pronounced by them, and then transform this very basis. An

understanding of the material basis for the khap’s existence and the

socio-economic context of their terrible decisions is necessary to

arrive at its appropriate remedy.

Khap panchayats oppose marriages between youths within families

of mother, father, grandmother, aunt and others who belong to close

blood-relations and same gotra. The newly-wed couple Manoj and Babli got

murdered by the panchayat in Karora village of Kaithal in spite of

the High Court’s protection provided to them. In the village of

Farmana in Maham, constraints were put in the marriage between

Neelam and Naveen by terming them as belonging to the fraternal gotras

i.e. bhaichara gotra of Sehrawan and Bura in February 2010.

The khaps also object to the marriages that consummate between gaon-

guhand, i.e. village and the neighbouring villages, terming them as violations

of social prestige. In Singhwal, a youth named Vedpal inhabitant

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of nearby village Mattor was in fact killed in the presence of a

High Court-appointed warrant officer. The dominant gotra (genus) of Jats in

the village also prevent the rest of the village inhabitants from

conducting marriages within their gotra. Not only this, these

people belonging to dominant Jat gotra object to even those same-

gen marriages to families of other villages where their own gotra

are dominant. In the village Ladawas which comes under the area of

Shyoran Pacchisi khap in Bhiwani and where the people of Sheyoran

gotra are in minority and those belonging to Gil gotra are in

majority, the marriage proposal from a Gil gotra family to that of

a Shyoran gotra was opposed.

Moreover, the khap panchayats not only forcibly interfere with the

marital relations of the numerically smaller Jats of other gotras

who are weak in terms of land ownership, but it also interfere in

artisans, tenants /share-croppers (kashtkar/bataidar) and agricultural

labourers in the villages. In the Shimla village of Kaithal, a

Dalit couple was stoned to death in 1999 for falling in love and

thereby daring to commit the ‘crime’ of violating social pride and

honour.

The khap panchayats not only oppose but also interfere and put

impediments to such marriages, breaks them up and forces the

married-couples or prospective brides and grooms to tie rakhis as

brothers and sisters. If any couple declines to comply with the

diktat of the khap, then it not only imposes a ban on all kinds of

social interaction with the families of the lovers or married-

couples and ex-communicates them, but even goes to the extent of

murdering the couples.

Many questions are thrown up from above incidents. This article is

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an attempt to examine the basis of the khap panchayat’s existence and

continued strength, and the purpose of interference in marital

relations even going to the extent of perpetrating murder of

youths for not complying with custom and rituals. We also

interrogate the ‘modern’ state’s failure to put a leash on them,

and the means through which the autocratic powers of the khaps be

challenged and its domination ended.

What is the Khap System?

Khap is the informal institution of each gotra in the Jat community

of North India which determines the customs and practices as well

as religious norms for its specific gotra. The members of each gotra

elect their headman. This headman convenes the panchayat of his

village. It is obligatory for all members to comply with the

decisions taken in the panchayat. There is a supreme organisation of

the entire Jat community which is called the sarv-khap, it includes

all gotra’s khap.

This gotra based institution is not peculiar to this region. Such

types of institutions existed in Munda and Gond tribes of central

and eastern India. Gotra based institutions are product of that

tribal age when human society was in its primitive stage. The

society was divided into Kul (clan or Gotra) based groups at that

time. These kinship-groups independently determined their social

norms and customs. Rig Veda refers to many clans (Kul). The

society of that period was primarily based on pastoralism, though

some amount of agriculture was also carried out.(Thapar:2008:150)

However the concentration of power was checked by various

assemblies of the clansmen, in particular, the vidatha, sabha and

samiti.1 (Thapar: 2008:158) As long as the gana-sangha system of

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polity existed; these clan-based institutions were responsible for

regulating the society. The assembly of the clan-chiefs used to

wield the power of governance (Thapar: 2008:190). Their society was

organised on the basis of clans, of which the larger unit was the tribe. This form of

organisation distinguished them from the peasants and the caste-based society.

(Thapar: 2008:83)

Tribal groups which did not become a part of the caste-system in

India still exist. They have genus and tribal institutions in

them. In Munda tribe of Jharkhand, all the gotras have their own

headmen. They are called the Rajas. They determine the social norms

by holding assembly in accordance with their respective gotras. For

determining the norms of the entire tribe there is an assembly of

the Rajas of all gotras within the tribe.

However, in other communities which have become part of the Indian

caste-system, such gotra-based institutions hardly exist. In some

castes there are biradari panchayats. But neither the structure of the

biradari panchayats is similar to that of the gotra-based panchayats, nor

are they so strong and powerful. In these communities too there

might have been gotra-based institutions sometimes in the past.

According to Frederick Engels, it was the tribe-based and genus-

based institutions which played the role maintaining order in the

society in the primitive stage of social development. The headmen

of the tribes and gotras were selected in this manner, and so were

the priests and the military generals. However, during the process

of state formation which progressed along with social development,

these Kul-based institutions started to meet their end or it

survived merely in symbolic forms.2

In Magadh during 5th century B.C. earlier pastoral cum agriculture

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economy with tribal organisation had given way to a more settled

agrarian based economy which become major factor in State

formation (Chakravarty:2007:4).and in the process of the

strengthening and geographical expansion of state power, the

collapse of the political institution of gotra-based tribal

republics known as gana sanghs was becoming inevitable in the face

of rapid changes taking place in 6-5 centuries B.C.

(Chakravarty:2007:6) The rule of the assembly of the clan’s

chieftains in the gana-sanghas or the tribal republics was now

replaced by monarchies. The monarch was now being determined by

inheritance and by birth. Political power got concentrated in the

hands of the king. The council of ministers or an assembly

remained merely as advisor (Thapar:2008:193). However, the

character of such an assembly or council was totally different

from those under the clan-based system. The emergence of the state meant

the abandoning of clan-based institutions from the society and the polity.

(Thapar:2008:157)

In Haryana too, clan-based tribal republics such as Yuddhyeya,

Arjunayan, Agra and Kunid etc. got disintegrated by the 5th century

A.D., and monarchy under Pushyabhuti came into being

(Yadav:1992:137-8). Harshvardhan was a member of this Pushyabhuti

royal family and established a vast empire, whose initial capital

was Thanesar. (Yadav:1992:154).

With the emergence and expansion of state power in India the

caste-system also got consolidated. Castes (jati) were different

from the clans, because the former were in general not based on

kinship, nor were there any collective ownership of resources. The

peasantry was generally distinguished for its caste system

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(Thapar:2008:88)

But in spite of the fusion of the Jat community into the caste-

system, the gotra-based institutions of the primitive tribal age

are not only in existence today but also remain highly powerful

and unchallenged, and maintain the ability to implement all the

decisions pronounced by it. They remain ready even to confront

modern state if and when a contradiction develops with it.

The Reasons for the Persistent Survival and Strength of the Khaps

The Medieval Period: Transformation in the Jat society and in the Character of the

Khaps

The Jats who now inhabit Haryana reached this region between

the Sutlej and the Yamuna in 11th century after getting displaced

from Sindh. During that time, this community was a pastoral socity

and its social structure was egalitarian/semi-egalitarian3.Talking

of the pastoralist society, Romila Thapar writes that The family

formed the core and patrilineal descent was often traced from a

common ancestor. Kinship, whether actual or Active, was essential

to identity and to loyalty, with a premium on the latter. This

ensured the coherence of the larger unit, the clan, which because

of constant movement would otherwise tend to get dispersed. The

clan was relatively egalitarian with a sharing of the produce,

although a better and bigger share was collected by the chief. A

group of clans constituted what have been called tribes, although

this word can cover diverse forms of social groups

(Thapar:2008:85). In all probability, these characteristics of the

pastoralist society may have also existed among the Jat community.

The Jat community continued to migrate towards the north-eastern

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direction or the present-day Haryana, Punjab, and Western Uttar

Pradesh.4 Most of the Jats in Haryana settled in bangar area, the

dry region where there was insufficient rainfall. This region

presently falls under the Rohtak, Sonipat, Panipat, Karnal,

Jhajjhar, Bhiwani, Jind, Kaithal and Hisar districts.5 There was

also no river in this region. Therefore, this was a region of

sparsely populated barren land without having any means to make

the land cultivable through irrigation. In this region of sparse

population, people belonging to each gotra could settle their

villages only within the borders specified for their gotra. With

the victory of the Turks over India, the entry of rahats, the Persian

wheel, also paved the way for the transformation of pastoralists to

peasants(Habib:2006:31). Muhammad Bin Tughlaq also constructed

four canals in Haryana along with the Western Yamuna Canal in this

period. This canal created better conditions for cultivation in

this region. Possibility to increase agriculture productivity had

been amplified. Various gotras of Jats also settled in and around

this region along with their clan members. The possibilities of

maintaining the gotra-based institution or khap also continued along

with the settlement of specific gotras in specific areas.

In that period of history i.e. the reign of Sultan, a land revenue

based feudal social system got firmly established in this region

of Haryana. Under feudal system, the state and the big landlords

used to usurp a large part of the crop produced by the tenants and

the peasantry in general. The tribal society of Jats displaced

from Sindh also started cultivation. The Jats who were once

pastoralists, became peasants engaged in settled agriculture

between 11th and 16th centuries. However, they maintained many of

the tribal characteristics in their society (Chandra:2007:176). In

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the process of becoming settled cultivators, they became a part of

the contemporary feudal social structure and the production

process of that period as well as got fused within the India’s

caste-system.

For being close to the political capital of the Sultans and the

Mughal Empire, land revenue in this part of Haryana was collected

directly by the royal officials under the supervision of the

central authority (Moreland :1963:36). Khap, an institution of the

primitive tribal age became an instrument of struggle to reduce

the revenue of the peasants. Under the banner of the sarv-khap,

peasants also fought against the central authorities of Balban and

Shah Jahan.

A section of the Jat peasants became a part of the revenue

collection mechanism which played the role of intermediaries. They

were employed in the post of Chaudhries and Muqaddams as a part of

the tax collection mechanism in the parganas and villages

respectively. Chaudhuris and Muqaddams usually belonged to castes

and gotras which were dominant and in majority in a particular

region. There used to be 10 to 15 villages within a pargana. They

received a fixed amount from the revenue collected as their pay.

Most of the Haryana region was within the Delhi subah during the

Mughal era. Jats were employed as Chaudhuris in 35 percent of the

parganas under the Delhi sarkar encompassing Rohtak, Sonipat and

Chaproli, etc. Under the Hissar-e-Firoza sarkar that included

Agroha, Hissar, Fatehabad, Gohana, Hansi etc, Jats were employed

in 74 percent of the parganas for the collection of land revenue

They were also employed as Chaudhris in 25 percent of the parganas

under the Rewari sarkar which included Patodi, Baawal, Rewari, etc.

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and that of 33 percent under Sarhind sarkar including Thanesar,

Khijrabad etc.6 Thus, the tribal egalitarian society of the Jats

during pastoral stage disintegrated by the time of the Mughals and

as a part of the feudal society got stratified and divided into

various classes of landlord and peasants. The dominant class of

Jats who emerged as chaudharis and muqaddams became owners of large

landholdings by using state power and influence of their official

position. This very class also started to play important roles in

the khaps by wielding the influence of their property and political

power. Akbar even co-opted the members of the sarv-khap to the status

of ministers in order to integrate them within his state.7

On one hand, the khaps were used by the Jat landlords in making

bargains and compromises with the Mughal emperor in order to

maintain or strengthen their role as intermediaries in the feudal

land revenue system.8 On the other, the upper class that belonged

to those who were called khudkast-the landholders and peasants- and

had proprietary ownership of land, used the inherent power of the

khaps and panchayats to maintain control over other artisan class and

castes, menial castes and tenants. The village administrators

connected to the khaps also used to collect hearth-tax from other

inhabitants as additional revenue.9 It was also used to control the

Jat peasants from other gotras who were invited to the village to

till fallow lands in a khap’s area. The tenant peasants who belonged

to other Jat gotras were not given the right to intervene in matters

of village management, and only a subordinate status of their

rights over land was recognised (Ibbetson:1883:para 240)

The ruling class character of the Jat landlords who were appointed

as chaudhuris once again came in clear evidence when they opposed

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the rebellion by the landless peasants, tenants, artisans and

merchants led by Banda Bahadur, and pleaded with the emperor of

Delhi to crush this movement that raised the slogan of land

redistribution (Sing:2006:22,60). The Jat leader Churaman of

Mathura which himself rose up against the Mughal Empire with the

help of the khaps went to the extent of becoming a part of the

Mughal army in order to quell the rebellion under Banda.10

This way, the Jat tribal society did not get transformed into a caste based feudal society in

the general course of social development in which gotra based institutions generally got

disintegrated with the emergence of the state. The Pastoral society of Jats straight-away

got assimilates into the relatively advanced land revenue and caste based feudal system.

This is why the clan-based institution of a society and rule survived among the Jats. This

tribe and gotra-based institution of srav-khap/ khap continued to survive and coexist with

the feudal social and political structure. Khaps got transformed into a means of fulfilling

the interests of big landlords from being the political institution of an egalitarian

community and became an instrument to maintain the status-quo in

agrarian relations as per the needs of landlords.

British Colonialism : The New Administrative System and the Khaps

The British East India Company inaugurated colonial rule in

Haryana by taking over the right to collect land revenue from the

Mughal Emperor in 1803. The British started the Mahalwari system

here. Under this new system, they did not bring about any

fundamental change in the lower stratum of the land revenue

collection mechanism. Revenue continued to be collected in the

villages through the Muqaddam/Muqaddams, who later came to be

termed as Numbardars. The pargana system was transformed into the

Zaildar system. Post of Chaudhari had been replaced by Zaildar. The

posts of Nambardars and Zaildars were continued to be filled by the

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government from among the dominant Gotra and caste in concerned

area. They were invariably from the wealthy and influential

families of the region.

Only one khap (clan as used by the British) was kept in on Zail

circle and someone from that khap who was loyal to the British

rule, who had helped British during 1857 revolt was appointed as

the Zaildar.11 One Settlement officer had to alter his proposed

division so as to separate a Dehia village which he had included

with Haulanias while framing Zail (Ibbetson :2008:127). So the

Zail was framed as per Khap area. The person appointed as Zaildars

and Nambardars played major roles within the khaps as well. The hold

over the khaps also gave them an important place in the colonial

regime. The headmen of Gathwala gotra’s khap was appointed as a

Zaildar. So British had co opted influential section of Jats who

had a prominent position in Khaps. This is probably why the khaps

did not play any significant role after the struggle for

independence against the British in 1857, even though there was a

sharp increase in land revenue demand as well as a number of

famine occurred during this period.

This influential section of jats also consolidates their hold over

land during the land settlements introduced under the British

rule.12 During the 19th century ‘there was an abundance of land and

a scarcity of cultivators’ (Ibbetson:1883: para240).

However, the tenants from Dalits, backward and other castes were

deprived from ownership of land. They were forced to take up

share-cropping on the fields of the landlords who had proprietary

rights over land, to work as bonded labourers (siri-sanjhi), to supply

the means and tools of production. These influential section had

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probably crushed the aspiration of tenants of other castes (kamera

class, or ‘partial cultivator’) to acquire a proprietary right on

land by using the strength inherent in Khap.

During the colonial period even after the establishment of the

‘modern’ state according to the rule of law, institutions like the

khap remained as parallel political authority which also became a

means to consolidate the political status of its influential

leaders.

Post 1947: Socio economic Changes and the Khaps

The situation did not change even after 1947. The hold of big

landlords over land remained unaltered. The land-reform acts of

the government proved to be ineffective. There might be even a

single family from big landlords whose land was adjudged surplus.

The state legislative assembly tried to delay in every possible

way the imposition of the upper limit on landholdings. This is

because these big landlords themselves had become society’s

representatives in the state and central political institutions.13

Peoples’ movements against feudalism and for land redistribution

could also not emerge so strongly in Haryana. The Mujhara movement

had taken place only in some villages of Hissar , Sirsa and

Bhiwani14. The sporadic struggles took place under the leadership

of the Laal Jhanda Party of Teja Singh Swatantra in Narwana and

Yamuna Nagar. The movement for land is hardly heard in the areas

where Khaps are very strong. The most important factor behind this

is the fear of the organised strength of the khaps, which

violently crushes even the smallest of resistances by the

oppressed classes and castes. In recent times, there has been some

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struggle to claim the right over the Samlati lands reserved for

Dalits.15 However, these struggles too have not been able to expand

in an organised way at a mass level. No significant change took

place in the pattern of land ownership and consequently agrarian

relations even after Green Revolution.16 In spite of the

development in the productive forces in agriculture, no

fundamental change has come about in the production relations in

the agrarian society.

Nevertheless, the development of new sectors of production and

service has created ever new opportunities for productive labour.

A part of the so-called ‘lower’ castes entered in these new

productive sectors since manual labour is primarily undertaken by

the members of these oppressed castes in the Indian caste-system.

Political consciousness and sense of dignity developed among this

section of Dalits and other oppressed castes as a result of

working in urban areas, getting into government employment and

procuring higher education. The aspiration to live a life of

dignity and self-respect emerging among the Dalits and oppressed

castes has also led to the development of this consciousness among

the agricultural labourers and poor peasants as most of Dalits do

not have a proprietary right on land and have to face exploitation

and extra-economic coercion. These classes are now raising their

voice against caste-based exploitation, discrimination and begar

(obligatory labour service) and are walking with their heads held

high. Now impediments are being faced by the landlords in their

policy of extracting extra surplus on the basis of caste. But the

landlords are using the power of their gotra or community inherent

in khaps for their own interest and try to maintain control over

exploited and oppressed classes by perpetrating caste-based

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social-boycotts and attacks on those who claim their legitimate

rights. Incidents of caste-based atrocities in Gunna, Mahmuddpur,

Gohana, Harsola and Mirchpur are some of its terrible instances.

The big landlords not only prevent the tenants, artisans and

agricultural labourers from even availing their constitutionally-

guaranteed rights but also deny them a life of dignified

existence.

The agricultural sector has got trapped in a great crisis after

the Green Revolution. New techniques of production are being

introduced and applied in a big way. The input costs are growing

exponentially. Most of the small and middle peasants are indebted

to the usurers who appropriate a large part of the peasant’s. The

land of the indebted peasants is being bought over at nominal

price by the big landlords and usurers in lieu of the lent amount.

The peasants of Haryana had to also bear the consequences of being

close to the country’s capital Delhi. Due to the policy of

‘Special Economic Zones’ introduced in the name of second

generation reforms led to the flourishing of the real estate

speculation. The peasants of Haryana engulfed by the debt trap

adopted the selling of land as a means of escaping from

indebtedness. Most of the peasants lost their primary source of

livelihood. The youth does not consider their future to be secure

in the agrarian sector which is entirely being overlooked by the

government. On the one hand agrarian crisis has deepened in

Haryana, and on another hand, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Bahadurgarh,

Sonipat, Rewari, Bawal etc. have become the centres for industrial

production and the service sector on the other. This process has

expanded rapidly after adoption of Liberalization, Globalization

and Privatization in 1990; it has become the nerve-centre of

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foreign corporations and Indian big business.

Due to the expansion of these new sectors of production and the

transformation of agriculture as an unprofitable venture, the new

generation of youth in Haryana have also started to become part of

new production relation after leaving their ancestral agriculture.

This section of the youth is now in contradiction with the

traditional customs of the feudal society. To point fingers at the

traditional norms by the youth is to challenge that section of the

agrarian society whose interest is fulfilled even today by these

traditions. This amounts to challenging the exploitative agrarian

relations and the caste system nurtured by it, through which the

landlords keep control over the labouring classes. The big

landlord class therefore are getting these youths killed through

the khaps in order to maintain their sources of strength – the

caste system and the agrarian relations. The strict control of the

landowning castes over the society’s matrimonial relations is a

ground reality in all the states of the country.

The Jat peasants have also benefited from the support of the khaps

to their struggles. These khaps have played an important role in

the peasants’ movements of Kandela, Adampur, Nisingh etc. led by

Bharatiya Kisan Union, and because of the active participation of

the khaps the peasants’ movement of Haryana have been so militant

and extensive. Therefore the khaps also fulfil the interests of

the Jat peasants apart from serving the Jat landlords, for which

the former also accepts the decisions of the khaps.

In the context discussed above, not only the tribe and gotra-based

institution of the khap survived, but it also remained highly

powerful.

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Agrarian Relations, Growing Trend of Love Marriages and the Terrible Role of the

Khaps:

The expectation to uphold the customary rules and regulations in

conjugal relations is common to all castes and communities in

India. Same-gotra marriages are particularly eschewed, whether it

is the tribal society of the Gonds of Bastar or the Munda adivasi

community of Jharkhand, or the Aggrawal caste who are considered

to be advanced in trade. It is worth noting that patrimony-based

gotra system and the marriage norms related to it had been widely

prevalent in the entire world during primitive age. Inter-marriage

in the same gotra (endogamy) or conjugal relations outside the

tribe (exogamy) was prohibited in the clan-based system of

primitive stage.17 But these tribal traditions are firmly present

in the Indian society even today, particularly in the marital

relations the continuation of these norms are highly visible

because the “Entire Course of Indian History Shows Tribal Elements Being Infused Into

A General Society. This Phenomenon, which lies at the very foundation of the most striking

Indian social feature, namely caste.....” (Kosambi:1991:27)

In North India, particularly in the agrarian societies, love for

someone is not the deciding factor in marriage. Rather caste

affiliation and financial status are the determining factors and

that are too decided by parents. As in the patriarchal society,

the child born out of a marriage – particularly the male child –

is considered to be the legitimate heir to the father’s property.

Therefore there is a close interconnection between the conjugal

relations and the property relations existing in the society. As

described by Engels, “the origin of monogamy...was not in any way the fruit of

individual sex-love, with which it had nothing whatever to do; marriages remained as

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before marriages of convenience. It was the first form of the family to be based, not on

natural, but on economic conditions – on the victory of private property over primitive,

natural communal property. The Greeks themselves put the matter quite frankly: the sole

exclusive aims of monogamous marriage were to make the man supreme in the family,

and to propagate, as the future heirs to his wealth, children indisputably his own.".18

Monogamy is that form of marriage practice which produces a

‘legitimate inheritor’, and this is the form which is presently in

practice in Haryana and in India. Restrictions were imposed on

women so as to produce legitimate heirs to property. The main

objective of these restrictions is to control their sexuality and

reproduction. To maintain the familial hold over property, to keep property within a

particular caste, and to reproduce the production relations that got established on the

basis of the caste system, not only the rules and customs related to marriage are

promulgated but are also strictly enforced. Those who violate the marriage

customs are punished by biradari panchayats, in which members of one

caste, usually influential persons of a particular caste,

participate and pronounce the ‘judgment’. However, these panchayats

are not as powerful as khap because khap, being a tribal

institution, has a traditional chief and has a well-organised

structure. In Haryana too, the violation of the marriage

regulations is considered to be a very serious crime . But death

sentence is pronounced for the violation of these norms. This is

because the khap panchayats of the Jat community is more organised,

powerful and influential in comparison to the biradari panchayats.

They even confront state power.

Majority of the Jats in Haryana are landowners. Among them some

are big landlords, while others are middle and poor peasants. In

the Jat community, marriage alliances outside caste are not

permitted. If there is any, degree of punishment varies.

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If a Jat woman marries a ‘lower’ caste man – she is often

murdered.19 Such a marriage will elevate the social status of the

lower caste and will prove to be an impediment in the continuation

of the caste-based exploitation and oppression as these Dalits and

other oppressed caste are their subordinate in agrarian relation.

This concern is aptly reflected in this saying by the dominant Jat

community, “Yeh dhed mahre jamai ban jiyange. Mhari gelya khat pe bethiya karenge”

(These Dalits will become our sons-in-law. They will sit with us

on charpai as equals). This means that Dalit relatives will have

to be treated as equals. Thus, in a majority of cases when a Jat

girl marries a Dalit boy, the khap panchayats pronounce death

sentence on the couple as a mark of social honour. However, if a

Jat boy marries a girl who belongs to the ‘lower’ castes, he is

not killed. The Jat boys are establishing conjugal relations with

girls in ‘lower’ castes from Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh,

Himachal, Jharkhand, etc, as number of girls have declined sharply

in Haryana due to female foeticide. But no khap has opposed such inter-caste

marriages, though considered to be a taboo in the traditional customs of the Jat society.

The reason for this is that even after such an inter-caste

marriage, there is no possibility of a change in the status of the

bride’s family and subsequently of her caste members, since in a

patriarchal society the bride’s family in any case has a lower

status.

One of the reasons for the continued instances of ‘honour killing’

may be the fear of Jat women after inter-caste marriage could

claim a right to inherited property which is otherwise claimed

entirely by men in the present patriarchal society. In that case,

the property of Jat woman’s family will be accessible to the

‘lower’ caste family. As a result the ‘lower’ caste family will

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get an equal status with the Jat family not only socially, but

economically as well. Murder of couples in love have gone up

manifolds after the Hindu Marriage Act and Hindu Succession Act,

which recognises the legal rights of daughters to ancestral

property, came into being. 20

The marriage of Jat boys from minority gotras of the village or the

locality with the girls of the dominant and majority gotras of Jats

is also opposed, even if the girl’s family is located in a far-off

village. The majority gotra not only administers the village but

also is the owner of most of the village land. They had always

given an inferior status to the tenants and craftsmen who came

from outside. If boys from the minority gotra get married to the

girls from the majority gotra, people from the minority gotra would

socially become their equals. This will reduce their social

honour, prestige and the status of the Chaudhris. This will have the

possibility of indirectly influencing the people from other

castes. The Jats of the majority gotra puts forward an argument

against same-gotra marriage that there will be a difficulty in determining

whether they should call the newly married bridegroom as sister or daughter-in-law.

However, this argument is articulated in the areas of khap

domination. In the areas outside their influence, marriages are

taking place even within the same village. Hundreds of marriages

have so far been solemnized within the families of the village

Chautala, which is the village of the Indian National Lok Dal

leader Om Prakash Chautala who have fully supported the

restrictions imposed by the khaps on matrimonial alliances21. It

becomes very clear, therefore, that the reason behind the

selective and arbitrary imposition of marriage restrictions is to

maintain the dominance of some gotras of a particular community in a

19

village or a region.

Apart from these regulations, other norms coming down from the

tribal-age is also implemented through the khaps. This includes

prohibition on same-gotra marriages and marriages among fraternal

gotras having the same ancestry, etc. But such marriages are less in

number. Such traditions are enforced by the dominant class of the

Jat community to maintain the necessity, relevance and existence

of the khaps, which still remains a medium in their hands to

maintain their dominant status in the society.

The khap panchayats even forcibly interfere with the matrimonial

relations of Dalits of a village. For instance, a Dalit couple was

murdered in a Shimla village just for being in love. Also Dalits

of a village cannot establish marital relations with Dalits of

another village, in which the gotra of dominant Jats is on a par

with the Jats of their own village.

The Relation between the Khaps and the ‘Modern’ State:

It is worth noting that the population of Jats comprises

about 25 percent of Haryana’s population.22 This plays a decisive

role in the electoral politics based on numerical strength. There

are politicians from among the big landlords that belong to the

Jat community and who occupy important ministerial posts in every

government in the state. These politicians are eagerly putting the

stamp of approval to the medievalist diktats of the khap panchayats.

In 2004, former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala said, “Whatever

decision panchayats takes is correct.” 23 The present Chief Minster,

Bhupinder Singh Hooda, says khaps are social institutions any step

taken in hurry to curb them will have dangerous impact on the law

20

and order situation of the state. He has openly opposed same-gotra

marriage. Even big industrialist and Kurukshetra MP Naveen Jindal

revealed his feudal character when he seemed to be in agreement

with the anti-democratic demand of the khaps to prohibit same-gotra

marriage.

The power of the khap panchayats exists parallel to the political

power of the government. Be it the Gohana massacre or the Dulina

killings, politicians have directly or indirectly supported khaps

and other anarchic forces. Political leaders are themselves

presiding over khap panchayats. The Beniwal khap panchayat that issued

the autocratic diktat of declaring the marriage of Kavita and

Satish null-and-void and forcibly making them siblings, was

presided over by former chief minister of Haryana, Hukum Singh.

The administrative machinery too supports it directly or

indirectly. In cases of inter-caste marriage, violence on women

and caste atrocities, the police and the administration reflects

their feudal character by standing with the perpetrators against

the victims, or at best by playing the role of mute spectators as

seen in Gohana, Mirchpur and Harsola clearly.

A Radical Transformation in the Agrarian Relations is the Only Way Forward:

For putting an end to the terrifying character of the khaps it

is necessary that the class which is ensuring the survival of khaps

and using them for their own interest is get rid of. The entire

land owned by these big landlords need to be redistributed among

the agricultural labourers and poor peasants and thereafter

proceeding towards collective farming and to create an egalitarian

society. Statistics tell us that the Dalits constitute 19.5

21

percent of the population in Haryana. According to the

Agricultural Census of 20005-06, out of 16,03,267 agricultural

landholding, the Dalits own merely 33,055, which is only 2.06

percent of the total landholdings. Out of the total cultivable

area of 35,83,297 hectares, they have a miniscule 44,620

hectares, which is a measly 1.24 percent of the land. According to

the Agricultural Census of 2005-06, small peasants constitute a

large section of the peasantry in Haryana. Of the total

operational holdings, 67.029 percent are of below 2hectare. Out of

this too, the section of peasants whose cultivable land is less

than one hectare is 47.67 percent of the total peasantry. These

47% peasants have just 3,46,118 hectares land. But landholdings

above 20 acre comprise 11,50,488 hectares land i.e. 32.1 % of

total cultivable land and these constitute merely 5.58% of total

landholdings.24 These landholders form landlord class in Haryana.

Their land should be redistributed.

Only after doing away with the ownership of landed property by the

big landlords as a class can the pattern of land ownership and

property relations in Haryana can be altered. Once the forces

benefitting from the khaps are destroyed, the culture, norms and

customs of the society will also undergo a positive change. The

caste system will also go through a transformation after the land

of the big landlords is redistributed among the landless and poor

peasants, majority of whom belongs to dalit and other oppressed

castes and path towards annihilation of caste and caste oppression

will be opened up. Only in such a condition can the ideological

struggle against the caste system will be able to do away with

caste discrimination. Strict norms related to marriage alliances

will become weak and the foundations for recognition of love

22

marriages will be laid.

There is no political will or intention of the leaders of various

parliamentary parties to redistribute the land. That is why in the

conflict between the agriculture labourer and peasant’s

organisation named Krantikari Mazdoor Kisan Union and the goons

of the dominant Jat community in Ghasso village 2005

(PUDR:2007:6), the then finance minister openly stood with the

Dadhan khap. Land can be distributed only through peoples’

movements. The agricultural labourer and poor peasants themselves

will have to struggle in order to redistribute land among the

labouring classes of the society, no matter whichever caste they

belong to. As the dominant Jat landlords have also started to play

the role of the arhatiya (money-lender) as well, who exploit a big

section of even the Jat peasants and also take over their land.

Only during the struggle by the labouring class of the society for

claiming the right of land to the tillers it will be possible to

build a class-based unity and social structure in place of the

present caste and khap-based social structure.

Along with putting an end to the material basis for the khaps, it

is also necessary to wage an ideological and cultural struggle

against the irrational and unscientific traditional ideas, such as

the kinds of thinking which holds that ‘inter-caste marriages lead

to pollution of blood’, and ‘inter-gotra marriages consummate

children who carry health-related deformities’.

The notion of ‘purity of blood’ is a concept propagated by

brahmanical Manuvad in order to consolidate the caste-system so

that the feudal exploitation of the castes engaged in manual

labour gets social recognition and to ensure that the labouring

23

classes keep reproducing children for the fulfilment of the needs

of the landlord classes. Therefore it is necessary to struggle

both against these regressive ideas as well as their baneful

impacts on the society.

There is no basis for the notion that ‘same-gotra marriages lead to

children that carry health-related deformities’. The present

society being a patriarchal one, only the father’s gotra is

considered to be a part of the hereditary gen, and fit for

determining the inheritor. However, the genes which are the

determinant factors in deciding the physical properties of the

body come both from the father and the mother. The child inherits

the combination of both the parent’s genetic properties. During

the hundreds of generations through which gotras have evolved, the

genes of generations after generations of mothers, who got

integrated to the family from external gotras, have got mixed up

with that of the original ancestor father of the gotra. So only a

fraction of the properties of this ancestor can be found in

today’s generation of children. Therefore there is no scientific

basis of above argument.

Apart from fighting the ideological battle, there is also a need

to render moral and physical support to those who are being

targeted and have suffered the acts of the khaps, be it in the

issue of caste-based atrocities or of the right to personal choice

in marriage of the couples in love-relations. All the conscious

citizens need to support their cause.

After redistributing land among the agricultural labourer and poor

peasants including the oppressed Jats and other labouring castes,

steps will have to be taken towards establishing collective

24

ownership over land. Only then will we be able to make the khap

system irrelevant and thereby get rid of it. Only then can we

transform the terrifying image of the khap panchayats.

Comment and References :

1. Kul, gotra, clan, gen are interchangeable in their meaning. 2. Engels writes that “.....the customary election of their successors from the

same families is gradually transformed, especially after the introduction offather-right, into a right of hereditary succession, first tolerated, thenclaimed, finally usurped; the foundation of the hereditary monarchy and thehereditary nobility is laid. Thus the organs of the gentile constitutiongradually tear themselves loose from their roots in the people, in gens,phratry, tribe, and the whole gentile constitution changes into its opposite:from an organization of tribes for the free ordering of their own affairs itbecomes an organization for the plundering and oppression of their neighbors;and correspondingly its organs change from instruments of the will of the peopleinto independent organs for the domination and oppression of the people.”Engels, Family, Private Property and the Origin of the State,http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1884/origin-family/ch09.htm viewed on24nov. 2011.

3. Habib, Irfan President’s Address, Proceedings, ‘Punjab History Congress, SixthSession’, March 19-20, 1971, Publication Bureau, Punjabi University, Patiala,pp.48-49.

4. In Haryana, Jat are divided in three categories i.e. Deswali, Pacchede andbagri. It is said that Deswali are oldest jat clan of area, after that PacchadeJat clans had reached. Bagri jats migration was very late and they have setteledin boundrary of Haryana as in Sirsa, Hissar etc. In Bagri Jats khap system isweaker than Deswali and pachhede. See Ibbeston, Denzil [2008],p. 126.

5. Habib, President’s Address, pp.48-49.6. In Prof. Jigar Mohammad’s ‘The Jat Zamindars of the Subah of Agra, Delhi and

Punjab Region in Ain-e-Akbari’, it is mentioned that Jat were employed as taxcollection officers in the eight sarkars in the Delhi region. Sing, [2005], p.80.

7. http://www.jatland.com/home/Khap viewed on 24 Nov. 11.8. The article titled ‘The Intensity of Peasant Movement in Braj Region between

1686-1695’ written by Dr. Veer Singh throws light on the relation between theJat movement and the khaps. Sing, [2005], p.121.

9. There used to be four classes of peasants in Haryana: Raiyat, Pahi, Kamera andKamin. The ownership of village land was with the raiyats, who were generallythe successors of the peasant groups that established the village. This group ofvillagers considered themselves to be superior to the other inhabitants of thevillage. Purser and Fanshawe,[1880], p.29. Singh [2004], p.116.

10. The Jat landlords revolted against the Mughal state ruled by Aurangzeb inthe second half of the seventeenth century. The Jats also established a stateunder the leadership of Churamal in the region of Bharatpur. The khap panchayatsplayed an important role in this revolt. Ibid., p.88.

11. In 1879, the number of Zaildars appointed in Gohana was 7, 10 each inRohtak and Sampla, and 11 in Jhajjhar. On an average there were about 12villages in every jail. To whatever extent possible, Zail circles wereconstituted according to the settlement pattern of the tribes. Purser and

25

Fanshawe, [1880] p.151.12. 12.Tenant cultivators were disposed of their land in large numbers after

the implementation of the Punjab Tenancy Act in 1868, so that they could notclaim any right over the land. In order to show themselves as the realcultivators, the landowners started to minimise the registration of tenants inthe official government registry. Tenants were now allowed to cultivate only ona yearly basis. According to the Deputy Collector of Sirsa, this law waspromulgated to safeguard the interests of the tenant cultivators. However, theresult was very opposite. In this way, the tenancy act only made the conditionof the tenants more vulnerable. The position of only those whose land they usedto till got strengthened. The courts and their legal provisions also could notprevent the tenants from getting dispossessed of their lands and legal rights bythe landlords. Singh, [2004], pp.128, 131, 135.

13. According to the statistical data of the Haryana Government’s RevenueDepartment in 1986, a total of 3,82,044 acres of land was declared to be inexcess of the land ceiling. Of this, only 1,36,883 acres were made available forredistribution, i.e., only 1.21 percent of the total agricultural land inHaryana. A mere 1,23,295 acres were actually distributed, which is no more than1.15 percent. Sharma and Punia [1989], p.330.

14. Gupta, Jugal Kishore, The tenancy agitation in the Hissar district of theerstwhile Punjab, Proceeding: Punjab History Conference-30th session, PunjabiUniversity, Patiala, p. 151

15. According to the Village Common Land Act, one-third of the village land inHaryana under the supervision of the panchayats is reserved for the Dalits. Thisland is leased out through auction for a period of one year every year. Theauction takes place in the presence of government officials. However, on most ofthe panchayat lands the big landlords are still maintaining their stranglehold byemploying all means and devices. K. Gopal Aiyyer, Land Reforms in Punjab and Haryana:An Empirical Study, Gill,[2001], p.82.

16. In Haryana pattern of landownership has not been fundamentally changedeven after green revolution and land ceiling which play decisive role indetermining production relation. The Shanghai Textbook [1998], p.4.

17. Engels,http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1884/origin-family/preface2.htm

18. Engels,http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1884/origin-family/ch02d.htm

19. According to the Report of the National Woman’s Commission on ‘HonourKilling’, in a study conducted in Haryana, Punjab and Western Uttar Pradesh, Outof 560 cases profiled, in 89 percent cases, the couples, who have marriedagainst the wishes of their families had been threatened. “Honour killings havebeen reported most from those areas where the khap panchayats are active, and inthese 560 cases, 121 persons had lost their lives,http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/States-turn-blind-eye-to-honour-killing/Article1-593256.aspx viewed on 24 Nov. 11.

20. Quoted from the interview given by Prem Chaudhuri, the author of ContentiousMarriage, Eloping Couple, to Shila Reddy, ‘Khaps have to Reform’, Outlook, 12 July2010, p.55.

21. Ajay Prakash, Khap Ko Chunavti Dete Gaon,http://www.janatantra.com/news/2010/06/01/villages-challenging-to-khaps/ viewdon 24 Nov. 11.

22. Report of the Backward Class Commission, Haryana, 1990; according to the figuresgiven by the Gurnam Singh Commission.

23. Bhupendra Yadav, Khap Panchayats:Stealing Freedom?, December 26, 2009 vol

26

xliv no 52,EPW, p.18. 24. Agriculture Census 2005-06,

http://agcensus.nic.in/cendata/StateT1table1.aspx

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and Karnal Pargana of Karnal District, 1872-80, Pioneer Press, Allahabad.10. Kosambi, D.D. [1991] An Introduction to the study in Indian History, Popular

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Publication Institute, Allahabad.12. PUDR, [2007] Silencing Dissent- Caste Oppression, Peoples Movements & Charge of Sedition in

Haryana, Delhi.13. Purser, W. E. And Fanshawe, H. C. [1880] Report of the Revised Land Revenue

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14. Sharma, M. L. And Punia, R. K. ed. [1989] Land Reform in India, AjantaPublications, Delhi.

15. Sing, Veer ed.[2005], The Jat: Their Role and Contribution to the Socio-Economic Life andPolity of the North and North-West India, 2nd Volume, Low Price Publication, Delhi.

16. Singh, Chattar [2004], Social and Economic Change in Haryana, National BookOrganisation, New Delhi.

17. Singh, Ganda [2006] The Life of Banda Singh Bahadur, Publication Bureau, PunjabiUnivesrity, Patiala.

18. Thapar, Romila [2008] Poorvkalin Bharat, Hindi Medium ImplementationDepartment, Delhi: University of Delhi.

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(This article was originally written in Hindi with title Khap Panchayat : Ek Samajik Etihasik.The author has been associated with students’ movements, the movements of theBharatiya Kisan Union, workers’ and peasants’ movements as well as democratic rightsmovements. The insights and practical experiences gained during these movements havealso been incorporated in the paper. It has been translated by Ritupan who is a student ofhistory in Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi and has completed his doctorate recently.)

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