In a first of its kind meeting of khap panchyats held on Saturday at Bibipur village of Jind district in Haryana, the khaps decided to treat female foeticide as murder and condemned it. Interestingly, for the first time, around 100 women participated in a khap meeting as around 20 women shared stage with the big khap leaders.
Khap panchayats from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan were unanimous in declaring that female foeticide is a crime and should be a punishable offence as murder. The khaps met to discuss grave issues like female foeticide and other social evils like dowry and inter-caste marriages.
The grand congregation of khap leaders was organised by Bibipur village sarpanch Sunil Jaglan. “The purpose of this grand meeting is to dispel the misconceptions associated with khaps. It is widely believed that khaps take retrograde decision, but after this decision the opinion about khaps would change. Haryana has skewed sex ratio and if we do not protect girl child there would be no women left for men to marry,” said Mr Sunil Jaglan.
The maha panchayat was organised amid growing criticism of khap panchayats over honour killings.
Many women were also given the opportunity to speak on the issue of female feoticide.
“I was initially very jittery about the fact that how these veiled women are going to speak in presence of so many men. But they have done a good job. It is a welcome step that women are allowed to participate in khap meeting on an issue concerning women,” said Ms Aarti, a school teacher.