Casteism is one of the main causes holding up the country's progress
While deprecating the caste system in the country, the Supreme Court has declared illegal ‘khap panchayats' which often decree or encourage honour killings or other institutionalised atrocities against boys and girls of different castes and religions who wish to get married or have married.
“This is wholly illegal and has to be ruthlessly stamped out. There is nothing honourable in honour killing or other atrocities and, in fact, it is nothing but barbaric and shameful murder. Other atrocities in respect of the personal lives of people committed by brutal, feudal-minded persons deserve harsh punishment. Only this way can we stamp out such acts of barbarism and feudal mentality. Moreover, these acts take the law into their own hands, and amount to kangaroo courts, which are wholly illegal,” a Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra said on Tuesday.
Sentence upheld
The Bench upheld the sentence of two-year imprisonment, including six months' imprisonment under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, awarded by a trial court to Arumugam Servai, who called a member of a Scheduled Caste community by his caste name, ‘Pallan'. It dismissed his appeal against a Madras High Court judgment.
Writing the judgment, Justice Katju said: “The word ‘Pallan' no doubt denotes a specific caste, but it is also a word used in a derogatory sense to insult someone. Even calling a person ‘Pallan,' if used with intent to insult a member of the Scheduled Caste, is, in our opinion an offence under the SC/ST PoA Act.”
Jefferson's ringing words
The court quoted Thomas Jefferson in the American Declaration of Independence, 1776 saying “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator by certain inalienable rights that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
The Bench said: “Over two centuries have passed since Thomas Jefferson wrote those memorable words, which are still ringing in history, but a large section of Indian society still regards a section of its own countrymen as inferior. This mental attitude is simply unacceptable in the modern age, and it is one of the main causes holding up the country's progress.”
Two-tumbler system
The Bench also expressed its anguish over the two-tumbler system prevalent in many parts of Tamil Nadu. “This system is that in many tea shops and restaurants there are separate tumblers for serving tea or other drinks to Scheduled Caste persons and non-Scheduled Caste persons. In our opinion, this is highly objectionable, and is an offence under the SC/ST Act, and hence those practising it must be criminally proceeded against and given harsh punishment if found guilty. All administrative and police officers will be accountable and departmentally proceeded against if, despite having knowledge of any such practice in the area under their jurisdiction, they do not launch criminal proceedings against the culprits.”
Condemning honour killings and khap panchayats, the Bench directed the administrative and police officials to take strong measures to prevent such atrocious acts. “If any such incidents happen, apart from instituting criminal proceedings against those responsible for such atrocities, the State government concerned is directed to immediately suspend the District Magistrate/Collector and the SSP/SPs of the district as well as other officials concerned and chargesheet them and proceed against them departmentally if they do not prevent the incident if it has not already occurred but they have knowledge of it in advance, or if it has occurred, they do not promptly apprehend the culprits and others involved and institute criminal proceedings against them, as, in our opinion, they will be deemed directly or indirectly accountable in this connection.”
The Bench directed that a copy of this judgment be sent to all Chief Secretaries, Home Secretaries and Directors-General of Police in all States and Union Territories, and circulated to all officers up to the level of District Magistrates and SSP/SP for strict compliance. A copy would also be sent to the Registrars-General/Registrars of all High Courts who would circulate it to all judges.
Mr Ravi Singh , I wonder if you have facts backing up what you have written or are they a theoretical description of the ideology and principles of what a khap panchayat was in the past? If you have the time, do go through some of the 'decisions' this direct democracy' has taken, would seem as if they have come out from a tribal area of Afghanistan. Sadly, as long as there are people like yourselves and Mr Vishwas Gadkari who glorify the past and fail to live in the rality of the times and have compassion for fellow beings, such systems will flourish.
The article in Hindu probably represents a traditional aversion that South Indians have harboured for the North Indians. Let us remember that the Khap system has been in existence long before the so-called Western legal systems came into existence. Khaps were formed as a group of Gohands to dispense speedy and impartial justice to a set of villages. They have stood the test of time and obviously they cannot be written off so easily. A Khap is a manifestation of the resurgence of a Hindu Civil Code which needs to be respected, not trampled upon. Critisizing the Khap system for a few bad decisions, is like berating the entire Indian judicial system, because of a handful corrupt judges. People like Aamir Khan probably have a deeper axe to grind in demeaning the Khap system in India.
great verdict by supreme court.
the Khap are indian talibans and must be stamped out.
no mercy on killers and fedualistic mindset.
Sanity is not numerical. Just because there are reportedly thousands of people attending a Khap Panchayat doesn't make it right. The most successful democracies in the world are also those that have a fair Judiciary (Japan,S.Korea,etc). The nations that have disintegrated in the recent past (eg:Somalia) have a similar Khap Panchayat-like system in place of the judiciary. Why is it that people passing their 'judgements' in these farce justice systems are usually the most powerful persons in the village? Rather than being based on a universal humanitarian principles, where is the guarantee that their 'judgements' are not influenced by their own religious/cultural beliefs ? Are they really more qualified than people who spend 20 years in full-time education and few more decades in the Judiciary? These 'Khap Panchayats' have to be done away with, otherwise India's rural population will be no more than several gated communities facing off each other.
These comments by the Supreme Court are based on misinformation deliberately disseminated by media, in particular, one national Daily. A Khap is a region. A Khap panchayat is a regional Panchayat, working above the village level Panchayats. The panchayat system in India goes back to Vedic times. References to the panchayat are found in the Vedas. It is an gathering of the people. How do you legislate against that? Panchayats do not order killings. Misguided individual family members do, and live to regret it later. Despite all the hype, sting operations, mobile cameras, no one has been able to produce a video clip of a Khap panchayat, ordering a killing. These meetings are attended by thousands of people, sometimes upto 50,000 or more. The processes and deliberations are public, and transparent. All are allowed their say, and decisions are based on consensus. This is called DIRECT DEMOCRACY .All Khap meetings over the years have, steadfastly, unwaveringly, and unanimously, passed resolutions- against dowry; wasteful expenditures on weddings; expenditures on litigation;, against female foeticide; against marriage in the same sub clan( goth )- where being of the same clan is considered to be in a brother -sister relationship ; against drug and alcohol abuse; for education of girls and boys. What is objectionable here? No resolution has ever called for killing - for honour or otherwise.These panchayats and the people who call for them attend them are not media savvy or slick. Most do not know English.
Khap panchaayat are not Taliban of india but they are like vedic think-tank that had defined social custums for smooth functioning of society. Khap panchayat never asked youth to not marry with their lovers but sought to maintain our customs during their relations. If such customs are not maintain then there will be total collapse of society.
Mr Viswas Gadkari...do you want jungle law to prevail in the country? Do you want our country to become another Afganistan? A civilised society with all its encumbrances and pitfalls has to be sufferred in order for that to blossom into a better society. Short term solutions may make sense, in the short term, but certainly in the long term, will become a noose around our neck to our peril!
Khap Panchayat is the Taliban of India. And we claim we are better than Afghanistan, how?
Khap Panchayats are thousand times more efficient than our courts. The judgements are quick and the execution is quick. Nobody waits for official court order for appealing in the high court. There should be more khap panchayats all over India. Anna Hazare also delivers judgements in the panchyats and people abide by that.
Supreme Court Judgement is a great welcome for rationality and science in India and a check for Fundamentalist, illtrates and feudal people who want to take India a decades back. India govt is trying to change the social setup but it is slow so the decision of Supreme Court can give life to millions of people who want to be equal and who want to live and let live with others.
Rightly pointed out by the Judges, discrimination of any kind is against the basic tenets of life. God has created everybody as equal and human should not be allowed to make their own rules of differentiation. But the reality is far from this, discrimination on the basis of caste, gender, religion, community, language, region and colour is widely practised across all spectrums of society. The tacit social acceptance to such discriminations by vested interests is the prime reasons for continuation of practices like Khap panchayats. The worrisome fact is none of the political groups have shown any intention to take on khap panchayats for electoral reasons. The supportive attitude of Naveen Jindal is a prime example. Rather than condoning the activities of panchayats, he went on to support their cause. The logic that khap panchayats help in resolution of disputes at village level is far from truth. Infact, rampant honour killings and caste clashes in north India are majorly due to direct (or indirect) involvement of such caste panchayats. It is high time that people themselves denounce these self proclaimed and Taliban like panchayats. Caste panchayats act majorly as an instrument of dominant caste politics, the recent agitation by jats & gurjars for reservation are also the result of same. There are constitutionally elected panchayats in villages and they should be the right forum for redressal of minor grievances and later the law of the land should be allowed to take its own course. Dream of a casteless society would never be fulfilled if people's sanction is there for such ugly and abhorrent practices. Even though govt has to fulfil its constitutional duty in enforcement of fundamental rights as envisaged in our constitution, but it will be due to our own willpower that such discriminations can be curbed and a just & equal society is established.
SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act is the most abused act and very rarely helps the victims. Every one deserves to be treated fair and square and with dignity and equally before the law but an imprisonment of two years for uttering a word Pallan without any physical threat or any real monetary or other damages is indeed harsh. You may not like what the other person says but as long as there is no physical threat, punishment must not be of this magnitude. This law is so convoluted that the mere assertion by an SC/ST person that some one called them by their caste name can be grounds for a Non Bailable Warrant. No one deserves to be deprived of their personal liberty without due process. I guess only thing harsher than this law is living under Taliban rule or Blasphemy laws in Pakistan.
Court observation below and its handing down the two year imprisonment are contradictory. If all men are created equal and must be treated equal before the law why treat the word 'Pallan' more offensive than calling any other caste name of OBC or other castes as long as there is no physical violence involved?
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