Khap Panchayat : Women and Honour Killing

Dedicated to

This Edited book is dedicated to all women, couples and their family members who faced the barbarism of khap panchayats and such type of other self originated illegal social institutions functioning with similar type of close minded feudal approach based on ideology of patriarchy and male dominance.

Acknowledgements

It is my immense pleasure to acknowledge all the learned authors who have contributed their valuable articles and research papers written by them with utmost pain, efforts and investment of time. Without their sincere, fearless and devoted thinking towards the subject of Khap Panchayat’ – one of the most burning social issue in India and other developing countries, it would have been almost impossible to come up with desired result. I am also obliged to the distinguished panel of reviewers who invested their precious time and hard work in evaluating the contributions from various authors and further guiding them to make their writings focused, clear and appropriate for this edited book. I am also thankful to all my friends, teachers from University of Lucknow and family members who helped and encouraged me from time to time to remain stick to the mission of publishing this book on one of the most discussed and utmost important issue. Last but not the least, I thank to God and all who helped me directly or indirectly at every step and provided me the emotional support to compile this edited book.

-Dr Deepa Awasthi (Editor)

Author’s Introduction

Dr Deepa Awasthi

Ph.D – Education, Department of Education, University of Lucknow, U.P

Editor of the book and Contributor of articles titled Barbaric Acts of Khap Panchayat-who is responsible? Complete Control over Women: The illegal Intentions of Khap Panchayat; Co-relating the Existence of Khap with skewed Sex Ratio in Haryana; Media Standing Tall Against Feudal Khap Panchayats.

Dr. Deepa Awasthi, Editor of this book is Doctorate in Education and Post Graduate in Education, Sociology and Economics. She has qualified UGC-JRF in Education and Sociology as well and has equal command on both the subjects. She has participated and presented her research papers in more than 50 national and international seminars and conferences. She has also edited a book on sociological issue titled “Eve Teasing: A Social Epidemic” and an Edited book series titled “Girl Education in India – Still Miles to Cover” in three volumes. Her publication work also involves 12 chapters in edited books, three research papers in form of conference and seminar proceedings and 17 research paper and articles in various journals of national and international repute. Her keen interest areas include the sociological issues related to women and various issues related to field of Education.

Vidya Vati

Lecturer [English] in Directorate of Education, NCT of Delhi Contributor of article titled Past and Present of Khap Panchayats: Social and Cultural Perspective

Author is lecturer [English] in Directorate of Education, NCT of Delhi. For her performance in the field of teaching, she has been honoured with Indira Award and State Teacher Award by Delhi Government, and received a couple of other honours from NGOs and local politicians. She has participated in a number of seminars organised by SCERT and NCERT. Her review of a book ‘Srijan’ was published in NCERT journal. She has participated and presented her papers in three international conferences. She got prize of best speaker/presenter in her group in conferences. She takes great interest in issues related to women, culture, history, environment and language teaching. Her articles/research papers have been published in various edited books. Before joining the Directorate she worked in Ministry of Commerce, Government of India. She was also selected in Rajasthan Administrative Services.

Dr Mehnaz Najmi

Programme Chair/HOD in Political Science Department at School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Galgotias University, Grater Noida, UP.

Contributor of article titled Socio-political Role of Khap Panchayat in India

Author is a Programme Chair/HOD in Political Science Department at School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Galgotias University, Greater Noida, UP. She is Ph.D in Political Science from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, M.A. in Political Science from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and B.A. (Hon) Political Science from Daulat Ram College, Delhi University. She has also qualified UGC – NET. She has more than seven years of experience in research and teaching. She has participated and presented papers in various national/International seminars and conferences. Her special areas of interest are Indian politics, poverty, slum studies, woman in political process and minority affairs.

Goldy Gupta

Assistant Professor, K. L. College of Education, Dohki, Rewari, Haryana

Contributor of article titled Affirmative Aspects of Khap Panchayat

Author is an Assistant Professor at K. L. College of Education, Dohki (Rewari). She is post graduate in Mathematics and Education. She also did M. Phil. Education. Her topic of research in M. Phil. was related to personal values of secondary teachers. She also qualified UGC-NET in Education. She has been teaching at College of Education for more than eight years. She has participated in various seminars and workshops related to education. Her publication work involves one chapter in an edited book. She is also in charge of organising in-service Training Camps for Mathematics Secondary Teachers. Her special areas of interest are social issues and Mathematics teaching.

Palwinder Kaur

Senior Research Fellow in Department of Education, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab

Contributor of article titled Threatening Khap Panchayats

Author is a Senior Research Fellow in Department of Education, Punjabi University, Patiala. She is post graduate in Education and Political Science and also been awarded UGC- JRF in Education and UGC-NET in Political Science. She did Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) in Political Science. She also worked as lecturer in Education in Guru Teghbahadur College of Education. She has participated and presented the papers in 13 national/international seminars and conferences. Four articles written by her on various issues have been published as seminar/conference proceedings and in national/international journals. Till now, she has contributed one chapter in distance education departmental notes, Punjabi University, Patiala. She had also worked as field investigator in state of nation survey, 2008-2009 conducted by Lokniti and sponsored by CNN-IBN and The Indian Express. Till now she has contributed one chapter in edited book titled Eve teasing- A Social Epidemic.

Dr Rashmi Singh

Assistant Professor, Department of B.Ed. Maharana Pratap Government PG College, Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh.

Contributor of article titled Khap Panchayats and their Discriminatory Practices against Women

Author is Assistant Professor, Department of B.Ed. in Maharana Pratap Government P.G. College, Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh. She is Ph. D. (Education), M.Ed. and M.Sc. (Chemistry). She has also qualified UGC-JRF (Education). Her achievements involve P.C. Bonerjee Award for “Best Research Production of the Year – 2013” for her Doctorate thesis, Smt. Kailashwati Memorial Gold Medal-2006 for being “Best Woman Student” obtaining the Highest Percentage of Marks in M.Ed. and “Master Kanhaiya Lal Smt. Sunder Devi Memorial Gold Medal – 2005” for obtaining the highest percentage of marks in B.Ed. Till now she has attended a number of seminars and conferences on various issues and various articles/research papers contributed by her, have been published in national and international journals, seminar and conference proceedings and edited books.

Dr Meenakshi Dwivedi

UGC Post-Doc Research Scholar, Department of Education, University of Lucknow, U.P.

Contributor of article titled Equally Unequal: Gender Discrimination in Khap Panchayats

Author is a UGC Post-doc Research Scholar in Department of Education, University of Lucknow, working on the Project for the Education of students suffering from Autistic Syndrome Disorder. She has completed her doctoral thesis on Pains and Gains of Visually Impaired Students Studying in Mainstream Higher Education. She is post graduate in Education, Mathematics and Physics. She has also worked as Assistant Professor (B.Ed) for Seven years. She has participated and presented the papers in 14 national/international seminars and conferences including 102nd Indian Science Congress. More than 13 research papers and articles written by her on various issues have been published in reputed national/international journals. She has also contributed one chapter for an edited book. The teaching and research work of the author is focused on Special Education, Psychology and Mathematics.

Sharabani Mazumdar

Lecturer, Department of Education, Institute for Education, Kolhan University, Jharkhand

Contributor of article titled Khap Panchayat and Discrimi- nation against Women

Sharabani Mazumdar is an aspiring writer and avid reader. She made several trips around different parts of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal during her studies. In this period, she came across different people and their cultures that ignited her passion for acquisition of knowledge of people and their customs. She holds a master degree in English from Indira Gandhi National Open University and Master in Education from Kolhan University. She taught English in Jamshedpur Women’s College for one and a half year and currently working as a Lecturer in a B.Ed College, ‘Institute of Education’ where she is teaching Psychology and Educational Technology. She is an ardent lover of music, painter, good cook and loves travelling. In her spare time, she loves to spend time with nature, friends and family.

Zainab Farhat

Research Scholar, Department of Public Policy, Law and Governance, Central University of Rajasthan

Contributor of article titled Nothing Honourable in Honour Killings: A Study of Khap Panchayats, Honour Killings and the response of Indian Judiciary

Zainab Farhat is Research Scholar and currently pursuing her Ph.D from the Department of Public Policy, Law and Governance, Central University of Rajasthan. As an awardee of Maulana Azad National fellowship, her areas of interest are Minority Studies, Social Exclusion and Governance.

Dr Nagendra Ambedkar Sole

Dean, School of Social Sciences, Central University of Rajasthan

Co-contributor of article titled-Nothing Honourable in Honour Killings: A Study of Khap Panchayats, Honour Killing and the Response of Indian Judiciary

Dr Nagendra Ambedkar Sole is in the Department of Public Policy. Law and Governance and Dean School of Social Sciences, Central University of Rajasthan. He was Formerly Director and Regional Director of Vardhman Mahaveer Open University Kota, and IGNOU respectively and has served as members in various bodies like Academic Council, Finance Committee, Research Council and Board of Management. One of his articles is suggested reading of Department of Public and International Affairs, George Mason University, U.S.A. He has published seven books and 21 articles in reputed Journals and has successfully completed four projects. He has presented papers and chaired sessions of a number of National and International seminars and Conferences. He has 30 years of experience and is also serving as national Vice President of New Public Administration society.

Dr Amit Kashyap

Research Associate, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh

Contributor of articles titled A Critical Jurisprudential Appraisal of Law and Justice in Crime of Honour Killings and Role of Khap Panchayats in India and Khap Panchayats: Killing for Honour or for the Ego

Dr Amit Kashyap is Doctorate in Law, with 10 years teaching experience. At present he is working as Research Associate at Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. He is Post graduate Diploma in Journalism and Computers, Certificate courses in Human Rights and Computers. He is First UGC JRF/SRF in General (Male) Category in Department of Laws, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. His keen interest involves Socio-political development of India and Issues related to women and child. He has attended and presented papers in variousAuthor’s Introduction national and international seminars and conferences. He has published more than 40 articles and research papers in various journals.

Shashi Bala Kashyap

Assistant Professor, SCD Govt. College, Ludhiana, Punjab Co-contributor of article titled A critical Jurisprudential Appraisal of Law and Justice in Crime of Honour killing and Role of Khap Panchayats in India

Shashi Bala Kashyap is pursuing her Doctorate in Botany, with 14 years teaching experience. At present she is working as Assistant Professor at SCD Govt. College, Ludhiana. She is M.Ed. in Education. Her keen interest involves Socio-political development of India and Issues related to women and child. She has attended and presented papers in various national and international seminars and conferences. She has published more than 25 articles and research papers in various journals.

Sandesh Yadav

Research Scholar, Department of Geography, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi

Contributor of article titled Administrative Crisis in Dealing with the Honour Crimes and Khap Panchayats as Agencies of Honour Crimes

Sandesh Yadav is a Research Scholar in Department of Geography, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi, and pursuing his Ph.D. on topic “The Impact of Land Cover and Land Use on Urban Environment: A Case Study of NCT of Delhi.” He is NET in Geography. His keen interest areas include Urban issues, Environmental and Ecological issues and Gender issues. His ‘publications include 17 research papers in peer reviewed journals and four research papers in International journals. He has contributed five chapters in the edited books on Gender issues and urban geography. He has attended 16 national/ international conferences/seminars. He also attended “Research Methodology Workshop” organised by Giri Institute of Development Studies (GIDS), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh and the “Census Data Dissemination Workshop” organised by the University of Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh.

Dr Amitaraj Gargey

Principal, Daleep Walase Arts, Science and Commerce College, Pune, Maharashtra.

Co-contributor of article titled Khap Panchayats: Killing for Honour or for the Ego

Dr Amitaraj Gargey is Doctorate in English, with 18 years teaching experience. At present she is working as Principal at Daleep Walase Arts, Science and Commerce College, Pune. She is M.Phil. in Education, Diploma in German, and Certificate Course in Computers. Her keen interest involves Socio-political development of India and Issues related to women and child. She has attended and presented papers in various national and international seminars and conferences. She has published more than 18 articles and research papers in various journals.

Dr Nutan Sharma

Assistant Professor, Sri Sai College of Education, Badhani Pathankot, Punjab

Contributor of article titled Khap Panchayats and Honour Killings

Dr Nutan Sharma is Assistant Professor in Sri Sai College of Education Badhani-Pathankot, Punjab, with more than 10 years teaching experience. He is NET in education and Post Graduate in Mathematics. His keen interest area includes Value Education, Philosophy, Teacher Education, Teaching of Mathematics and Women Empowerment. He has attended more than 23 national and international seminars and conferences. He has published more than 25 research papers in national and international journals. He has guided more than 20 students at Master level.

Professor Haseena Hashia

Senior Professor, Department of Geography, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi

Co-contributor of article titled Khap Panchayats as Agencies of Honour Crimes

Professor Haseena Hashia is a renowned Senior Professor in Author’s Introduction

Department of Geography, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi. She is serving the department for the last 21 years and till date 11 scholars have been awarded Ph.D under her supervision. She contributed 40 research papers in national and international journals and five books related to gender issues in the State of Jammu and Kashmir and the NCT of Delhi. She is well known at the international level and attended international conferences held at Baghdad, USA, Indonesia, Malaysia, Iran and Switzerland. She is an adept researcher in Gender issues and the Environmental issues.

Ruchi Dhyani

Senior Research Scholar, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab Contributor of article titled Role of Khap Panchayats in Promoting Honour Killing

Ruchi Dhyani is a Research Scholar in Department of Education and Community Service of Punjabi University. She is Post graduate in Education, Commerce and Economics. Apart from this she has also completed PGDCA. She is UGC-JRF in Education. She worked as lecturer in Education in Punjab College of Education. She participated and presented 14 papers in national, international seminars and conferences. She also contributed one chapter in edited book on Eve teasing. Her four research papers have been published in reputed international journals.

Manvi Manisha Tigga

Post Graduate Teacher, Government School, Simuldanga, Jamshedpur

Contributor of article titled Khap Panchayat as Parallel Judicial System

Author is a voracious reader, a passionate writer and a born story teller. She has completed her Masters in English from the University of Delhi and Masters in Education from Kolhan University. She has worked for ‘SRISHTI’ publication as a translator for some time, before taking teaching as a profession. She has taught in school as well as college. She has also attended and presented several papers in national seminars. She has worked as Assistant Professor inJamshedpur Women’s College, Jamshedpur. In her copious free time, she enjoys listening to music, reading, writing and arranging displaced things.

Preeti

Ph.D. Scholar, Department of Geography, Kurukshetra University, Haryana

Contributor of article titled Khap Panchayat, Inter Caste and Inter Religious Love Marriages

Preeti is research scholar in Department of Geography, Kurukshetra University, Haryana. She is pursuing her Doctorate on the topic “Violence against Women in Public and Private Spaces in Haryana.” She has her Masters from Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. She has interest in issues related to women specifically violence, status, empowerment and development issues.

Introduction

In recent years khap panchayats have emerged as threat to civilisation through their unconstitutional and unlawful dictates imposing various restrictions on girls and youths. Law abiding citizens of country were shocked when media exposed the barbaric and inhuman ways of implementing those dictates. Apex Court of India has also declared them illegal and termed them as ‘Kangaroo courts.’ Although khap panchayats are particularly functional in few states of Northern India, mainly in Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Rural belt of Delhi etc. but its ideology based on patriarchy and male dominance is popular all over the country, cases of honour killing are listened in Tamil Nadu and tribal regions of Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar also.

This edited book entitled ‘Khap Panchayat, Women and Honour Killing’ is written with the intention to provide complete information about origin, constitution, ideology, functioning, legality and its impact on society. This book contains 20 chapters written by various eminent scholars of their field. Book is divided into four sections

(A) Understanding the Khap Panchayats

(B) Khap Panchayats and Discrimination against Women

(C) Khap Panchayats, Honour Crime and Laws

(D) Khap and other Non State Agencies

First section (A) of the book titled ‘Understanding the Khap Panchayats’ comprises of five chapters giving complete detail about origin, existence, constitution, regional expansion and functioning ofkhap panchayats. It also deals with the positive and negative aspects of khaps. Second section (B) titled ‘Khap Panchayats and Discrimination against Women’ include five chapters discussing the gender discriminatory role of khap panchayats in areas governed by khaps. This section especially focuses on the impact of discriminatory practices promoted by khap panchayats and its impact on their personal development especially by imposing various types of restrictions and bans on young girls. Third section (C) titled ‘Khap Panchayats, Honour Crime and Laws’ include seven chapters dealing with the role of khap panchayats in promoting various types of honour crimes including honour killings. Section details the existing legal provisions available to address the illegal acts of khap panchayat. It establishes the need of special laws and provisions specially enacted to counter the menance of khap panchayats. Fourth section (D) termed as ‘Khap and other Non State Agencies’ include three chapters focused towards three different issues related to khap panchayats.

Next part of the introduction details about the summary of every chapter one by one in ascending order with the purpose of providing glimpses and idea of contents included in these chapters.

In the first chapter of the book entitled ‘Past and Present of Khap Panchayats: Social and Cultural Perspective’ author Vidya Vati has highlighted the origin of khap panchayats in India especially in northern India. According to her, usually people are mistaken as khap panchayats are caste panchayat. It is normal in India that different castes like Brahmin, Vaishya, Balmiki and others unite together to form institutions like Brahmin Sabha, Vaishya samaj, Balmiki samaj etc. but khap panchayat are clan or gotra based groups within the caste, especially in Jat community and named these khaps on the name of gotra. Initially this gotra system was popular among Brahmins; they used to name their gotra on the name of ancient Rishis. Following them on similar pattern Jats also developed their gotra system with even more strict rules and regulations. She also focuses on the origin of Jats and tries to link it with the existence of khap system by quoting number of famous historians. Author has also detailed about the existence of khap like institution in other partof country. In the last of the chapter she has mentioned various factors that provide strength to these khap panchayats.

Dr Mehnaz Najmi in her chapter titled ‘Socio-political Role of Khap Panchayat in India’ states that existence of khap comes from the concept of extreme belongingness on the basis of blood, birth, proximity and choice. Khap represents the feeling of community and affiliation in northern India, basically cluster or union of villages based on clan as binding force. Although union of such type of villages exist all over the country with other names but the term khap is especially used in few states like Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan. Inter- caste and inter-religious marriages are completely banned in khap governed areas, even marriages in same gotra (clan) or within same village whether belonging to similar or different gotra is also not permissible. In areas ruled by khaps young girls are threatened, abused or killed on regular basis. She also finds that usually khap rules and laws are relaxed for boys but girls are never allowed to surpass them at any cost. Even in case of arrange marriage they find that bride and bridegroom belong to same gotra or same village they interfere on the basis of bhaichara (brotherhood). She also views that political leaders of almost all political parties directly or indirectly support them or remain silent, as they fear of losing their vote bank in that particular region. She further mentions that even these khap like institutions do not have any legal sanctity but they make their all possible efforts to be sure that dictates passed by them are implemented word by word. According to author khap has emerged as a result of political vacuum in the region, they are more prominent in areas where political representative do not have substantial political hold. For ending the evil of khap she suggests that youth of India has to come forward to bring necessary social changes. Positive role of judiciary, strict legislation, will of political parties, leadership of social activists, NGOs, pressure of masses and other democratic forces can handle the social nuisance created by khap panchayat but a joint effort is needed.

In the third chapter of the book titled ‘Barbaric Acts of Khap Panchayat Who is Responsible?’ author Dr Deepa Awasthi focuses on the various barbaric acts of khap panchayats i.e. killingthe couples who opt for sagotra, inter-caste and inter-religious marriages, raping the female family members of accused, compelling the victim to drink urine, publiclly beating, naked parade etc. and illegal verdicts like banning the girls to wear jeans and other tight outfits or banning the use of mobile phones, banning use of D.J.. strictly prohibiting sagotra marriages etc. Their negative attitude towards youth especially girls who deny to obey the old ideology of khap is shocking in twenty first century. According to her, inspite of continuous demand of banning the khaps responsible for spreading anarchy in society they exists. Lack of will power in police and administration, ill intentions of political parties and political leaders, negligence of state and central government has provided them strength to stand so firmly. She has appreciated the role of media, judiciary and civil society in creating a negative environment against khap panchayat. Author has detailed the reason for strict involvement of khap panchayats in marriage related issues. She has also evaluated the role of various government and non-government agencies responsible for nourishing khaps. A number of useful suggestions have been given to control the khap panchayats. According to her, beside various legal and administrative initiatives collective effort is needed to aware the common man living in khap ruled areas.

In the next chapter titled ‘Affirmative Aspects of Khap Panchayat’ author Goldy Gupta details that with passage of time Indian society has developed as agrarian society where every village has its own self-sufficient economy and well established self-developed judicial system for redressing the disputes. According to her, in rural areas khap panchayat works similar to Indian families. In family most of the time elderly person or head of the family uses his or her discretion to resolve the issue, their decision is final. Nobody in the family has the right to question his/her decision. In the similar ways elderly, experienced people of clan, caste and community call the meeting where both the parties involved in dispute come together to resolve the issue. According to author, distrust in system due to growing corruption, delay in judicial process, weak Panchayati raj system, inclination of khaps towards socio-economic reforms, ideology of preserving tradition and culture are the few reasons forcontinuous dominance of khap panchayat, inspite of strong criticism from media, judiciary and civil society. Author finds that media usually discuss the negative aspects of khap, hardly any news reflecting the positive initiatives taken by khap towards social reformation are given importance because media don’t find anything sensational in that. Promotion of girl education, movement to stop female foeticide, infanticide, promoting the girls to take up employment and sports and adoption of girl child if parents are unable to bear responsibility are the important aspects often overlooked by the people in society who always see khap related issues with the black spectacles on their eyes. Author wants everybody to recognise khaps for movements like ‘Beti Bachao, Selfie Banao’ and ‘Beti Pao, Dharm Kamao’ campaign. Even the Satrol Khap the biggest khap in Haryana has allowed the inter-caste marriages. According to her banning khap panchayat is not appropriate solution, bringing the desired changes from time to time will be the better initiation to build happier society.

Fifth chapter of the book titled “Threatening Khap Panchayats’ author Palwinder Kaur focuses on the evolution of khap panchayats in particular region of North India. She has explained the constitution of khaps in detail. She has also highlighted the functioning of khap panchayats with respect to its self-acquired legislative, adjudicative and executive powers. Author also states that although khaps have negative image in the eyes of modern India due to its uncivilised dictates but this do not represents the true picture because khaps also have a history of resolving the social issues like dowry harassment, widow marriages, marriages of poor girls etc. She feels the need of modernisation of khaps so that they can guard their culture and traditions with the help of means acceptable to civilised society. She also suggests that education and media are the tools which can counter the anti-effects of khap panchayat on society.

Dr Rashmi Singh in her chapter titled ‘Khap Panchayats and their Discriminative Practices against Women’ states that khap panchayat are collective patriarchal bodies which functions not only as self-governed administrative and judicial bodies following their own rules and regulations but also have political influence in region. She further expresses that inspite of various disputes and criticism khaphas dominance in mass and full support of people who are its members. According to author, issues of women rights, gender equality and gender sensitivity do not exist in the territories ruled by khaps. She further mentioned that female foeticide, honour killing, compromised marriages, child marriages, and restrictions on clothing and mobility of girls, denial to property rights are few gender discriminatory practices acquired by khap. Her study suggests that real motive of khap panchayat is to control sexuality for ensuring that property remains within patriarchal caste domain, the property remains the root cause for discrimination against women. Khap members believe that if women are given their due status in society their progress will be threat to their unlimited power. She further suggests that joint effort of politicians, civil society, police, academicians, media personnel and judiciary together can bring revolution to counter the discriminatory practices of khap panchayats. Before concluding the chapter she has made useful suggestions for law and policy-makers do deal with the evil of khap and such type of other institutions.

In the next chapter of the book titled ‘Equally Unequal: Gender Discrimination in Khap Panchayats’ author Dr Meenakshi Dwivedi views that India has male dominant society from centuries and khap panchayats represents similar psychology and ideology of Indian society. Women have always faced the gender based discrimination resulting into poverty, illiteracy, lack of employment opportunities, and low level of awareness. Social customs, practices and beliefs are few common factors responsible for prevailing gender discrimination in society. According to author still huge population in India lives in villages where khap and such type of other institutions existed since ancient times. Basic problem with these institutions is that they denied evolving with passage of time and wanting to remain adheres to century’s old ideology. Issues related to dress code for women, inter- caste and inter-religious marriages, marriages within same gotra of same village, honour killing, early marriages of girls, negative attitude on girl education and banning the use of mobile phones makes the situation vulnerable for women in khap governed areas. She further suggests that with more social development and increase in education level the strength of khap panchayats and hard line ideology of caste system is expected to get weaker day by day.