Khap panchayats are all-male unelected bodies notorious for issuing extra-judicial diktats and even ordering killings in parts of India.
The Supreme Court has time and again told the Centre and state governments to act promptly in cases of dishonour killings and to provide protection to couples who face such threats from khap panchayats or village councils often accused of dispensing medieval-style justice leading to murders and social ostracisation of couples.
But a khap leader from western Uttar Pradesh, Naresh Tikait, today warned the top court not to interfere in these matters and said that it should not encourage marriages within the same clan.
Unveiling the statue of his father and veteran leader, Mahendra Singh Tikait, in Mundbhar village in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district, Mr Tikait said, "We have always been opposed to marriages within the same clan and will continue to do so. The Supreme Court has given orders that anyone can marry anybody anywhere. We question that."
"We do not challenge the honourable Supreme Court but they should be careful and not get into this mess," he said.
The khap leader even issued a veiled threat to couples who marry without the approval of the community or their parents. "If someone goes astray and marries on their own, this is not right. Their parents will decide who they marry. If not, then the families of both the boy and the girl will be troubled and then the couple will be killed or they will be beaten up."
Khap panchayats, which are all-male unelected village bodies, are notorious for issuing extra-judicial diktats and even ordering killings in parts of rural India, especially in northern states, but they enjoy such political influence that local politicians rarely speak out against them, no matter what their parties say.
Recently, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda described the khap panchayats as "NGOs" and a part of Indian culture. Mr Hooda's statement came days after former Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal was criticised for saying that he saw no reason to ban these bodies, as they serve a "cultural purpose". AAP later clarified that it doesn't support decisions that violate law, but defended the existence of khaps.