Khaps decide not to reduce marriageable age of girls

Chandigarh: A Mahapanchayat attended by several Khaps in Sonepat district on Saturday refuted the idea of a Khap leader that marriageable age of girls should be brought down to 16 years, saying the suggestion was "individual in nature" and should not be seen as stand of the body.

The Mahapanchayat, attended by several Khaps or caste councils, did not endorse the suggestion to help curb increasing instances of rape in the state. The function was presided over by Nafe Singh Nain and attended by various Khap leaders including Sube Singh Samain and Santosh Dahiya, president of Mahila (women's) wing of a Khap.

Dahiya said that the Mahapanchayat decided to form awareness cells, comprising of 3 to 4 people in each groups, to launch an awareness campaign in rural areas of the state to educate the people including young boys and girls in a bid to help curb incidents of crimes against women. The Khap leader Sube Singh, who also attended the meet about 200-km from here, said that his comment on reducing age was his personal opinion.

The Mahapanchayat took note of rising incidents of crime against women including many rape incidents of rape in Haryana during the past two months and strongly condemned such incidents, Singh said. Earlier, Congress President Sonia Gandhi had dismissed the Khap Panchayat leader's suggestion, saying "We have a democratic system here, we have an independent judiciary...law is in the hands of judiciary, nobody else".

On Sonia's comment, Dahiya said, "Our existence cannot be ignored. Khaps have been there since ages. They are part of our social system and have been in existence even before civil law was there."

Dahiya said that the Mahapanchayat also strongly condemned the statement of Haryana Congress leader Dharambir Goyat, who on Thursday claimed that 90 per cent of the cases of rapes involved "consensual sex". "We have demanded that Goyat should apologise for his shameful comment. He should seek apology from all women for what he has said," Dahiya said.

"We will also be telling people that boys and girls should be given equal rights and girls should also be made strong- both physically and mentally," she said. On the issue of reservation to the Jat community in government jobs, the Mahapanchayat resolved to expand the scope of existing 24-member committee which is spearheading the demand by including more members and a decision to this effect will be taken when the Mahapanchayat holds another meeting in Jind district on October 21, Sube Singh said.