Expert on village councils says they have historical role

New Delhi: Bhale Ram Beniwal, a former school principal and chief spokesman of Beniwal Khap, is considered an authority on Khaps and has just penned a book — Haryana Ki Sarvkhap Mahapanchayat — on the history of the village councils comprising the elders.

In an interview with Gulf News, Beniwal, a resident of Karnal in Haryana, said that the khaps were as old in India as the people they represented.

Excerpts:

What is the history of khap panchayats?

The khaps are very ancient. They got the jajiya (a tax imposed on non-Muslims during the Mughal period) abolished. Mughal emperor Jahangir wrote a letter to the then Sarvkhap General Secretary in this regard. The centre of khap panchayats used to be in Shoraon village in Muzaffarnagar district (Uttar Pradesh state). The khaps fought for Indian freedom in 1857. Harshwardhan (an emperor who ruled major parts of India in seventh century AD) legalised them. Dushyant, a ruler of Hastinapur (now Delhi) called a Mahapanchayat to anoint Bharat, his son from Shakuntala, as his successor. The khap panchayats initiated a number of reforms in society. They supported widow remarriage. They dispensed justice in society, not in courts.

Why are they opposing same-gotra and village marriages?

This kind of opposition existed in the past as well. We cannot accept same-gotra marriages till we live. This was not accepted in the Vedic Haryana which extended to Himalayas in the North, Chambal River in the South, Satluj in the West and Allahabad in the East. These kinds of marriages don't conform to our culture. They are killing our culture. Since a gotra is supposed to have originated from a single person, same gotra people are considered brothers and sisters. In a village too, we consider every daughter, daughter of the village.

Why are khaps ordering killing of lovers and separating couples on the flimsiest of grounds?

The khaps have never done anything against an individual. We only impose symbolic economic sanctions. No khap has till date ordered physical punishment for an offender. Some khap panchayats may have committed mistakes unintentionally.

Didn't a khap panchayat order the killing of Manoj and Babli, lovers in Karnal, two years back?

What is the evidence that the two bodies which were found in the village were those of Manoj and Babli? No DNA test was conducted on them. Gangaraj, the panchayat member convicted for the murder, was never a member of a khap panchayat. CITU (Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), AIDWA (All India Democratic Women Association) and the Left parties are maligning us.

Why do you oppose inter-caste or inter-religious marriages?

We never opposed such marriages. We've a history of such marriages. Didn't Bheema, the legendary hero from Mahabharata epic marry Hidimba, a tribal girl? When a boy and a girl from the same village run away, you call it love. We call it yaunachar (illicit sex).

Is it not true that you are opposing same-gotra and alliances from the same village because you are against property rights to girls?

This (the property right) is a legacy of (Jawahar Lal) Nehru. We opposed such marriages even before that.