3 min readChandigrahSep 28, 2013 12:57 AM IST
First published on: Sep 28, 2013 at 12:57 AM IST
Khap panchayats need to be rendered ineffective by a large-scale social reform movement led by youngsters if they do not want to be victims of honour killings any longer”,said Dr D R Chaudhary,member of Haryana Administrative Reforms Commission,who stands against the atrocities committed by the khap panchayats.
Dr D R Chaudhary,along with other social activists,including Jagmati Sangwan,vice-president,All India Democratic Women Association (AIDWA) and renowned social worker Dr Sabu George were in Panjab University (PU) on Friday for a two-day seminar on ‘Gender Violence in Punjab and Haryana: A Stocktaking’.
While the number of honour killings in Haryana have failed to come down with a recent case reported in village Gharnavati,where a girl was lynched by her own family and a boy publicly beheaded,the social activists said the hope lies with today’s youth who can address this issue,if they take it up on an urgent basis.
Dr Sabu George pointed out that the problem would persist until there was a huge public outrage over it.
“The large-scale protests after the December 16 gangrape compelled the government to appoint a commission to revise the anti-rape laws. The issue of honour killings also needs to be taken to that level of awareness,” said Dr George.
The activists alleged that even the government was hands in glove with the khap panchayats and had failed to devise necessary laws against the gender-based violence. “These political elites have been the strongest defenders of khap panchayats. The whole agenda of vote bank politics have infused such a deep sense of insecurity in them that they fail to muster up the courage to dismantle the whole social setup,” said Dr Chaudhary,who has been working on the issue of khap panchayats since the last two decades. Meanwhile,Jagmati Sangwan highlighted the need to strengthen panchayats that are legally constituted.
“The village panchayats need to be made stronger. They should be entrusted with more powers,” said Sangwan. She also suggested that a post mortem should be made mandatory in case of the death of any person in the age group of 12-30 years in order to ensure action against the accused.
Calling upon youngsters to lead a major reform movement,Dr Chaudhary said,“A long battle needs to be fought before this gender-based violence,on the pretext of honour,can be stopped. Social change,after all,takes a long time,” he added.
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