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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Jind khap vows to protect the girl child -Sukhbir Siwach

Jind khap vows to protect the girl child -Sukhbir Siwach

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published Published on Jul 11, 2013   modified Modified on Jul 11, 2013
-The Times of India


CHANDIGARH: Shedding their image of being indifferent to the idea of women empowerment, a cluster of 20 villages under the Thuakhap of Jind district has banned sex selection and female feticide and announced a fine of Rs 11,000 on violators.

The violators would be socially boycotted in case the offence is repeated.

According to the khap spokesperson, Jitender Singh Chhattar, the community leaders, in a meeting held on Sunday at Thua village of Jind made a commitment to improve sex ratio in these villages within a year.

Chhatar said due to the skewed sex ratio, villagers in the region were forced to bring brides from different states like West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh.

"In few cases, villagers have been cheated on the name of marriage as the brides ran away after 3-4 months. Such incidents have prompted villagers to launch the ''save girl'' campaign," he said.

"To find out a permanent solution of the problem, villagers have agreed to ban sex selection and female foeticide in this area," he added.

"Before imposing a fine on violators, we would launch an awareness campaign in these villages so that people don't opt for female feoticide, followed by sex selection," said Chhatar.

The panchayat has also decided to tackle issues like dowry, which lead to gender bias. "The panchayat has urged villagers not to give or take dowry so that girls are not considered a burden on the family," said Mewa Singh Chhatar, another khap leader, adding that they would focus on the education of girls so that they become independent. "We have also decided to ban DJs in marriages and other celebrations to minimise wastage of money," he added.

Bibipur village, which had made headlines for hosting the first women-driven khap panchayat to launch a campaign against female foeticide in July 2012, was selected for Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar this year.

New direction

Social panchayats have begun to step in to regulate various culture-related practices in Haryana. DJs have already been banned in over 100 villages of Rohtak, Mahendergarh, Rewari and Bhiwani districts. In August 2012, Bhoja Ram's family in Nangla village of Rewari district had to pay Rs 5,100 as fine to the panchayat for hiring a DJ to celebrate the birth of a boy.

Times View

It might be tempting to welcome this decision of the khap without any reservations. After all, how often have we seen khaps taking a position that is in favouring of empowering women rather than enslaving them? Yet, there are elements of the decision here which need to be questioned. The khap as a community institution would do well to use its considerable influence to discourage female foeticide and sex selection. However, it must desist from coercive decisions that are clearly illegal, like imposing fines. We cannot in principle argue that khaps have no right to take the law into their hands when they support a position we find wrong, but are entitled to do so when we agree with them.


The Times of India, 11 July, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Jind-khap-vows-to-protect-the-girl-child/articleshow/21011764.cms


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