Khap is a cluster of villages unified by caste and geography. It was started by upper caste jats to amalgamate their preeminence and position in the 14th century. The foundation norm is that all boys and girls within a khap are reckoned as siblings. Khap panchayat governs the khap formed by same people from a number of bordering villages. Khap panchayats are raging in Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and parts of Rajasthan and love marriages are banned in area governed by Khap panchayats and those living in a Khap are not allowed to get hitched in the same clique or even in any other clique from the same village. Haryana is well known for the rule of Khap Panchayats and is predominantly governed by it. They decide the rules of the place and are followed by people with great acceptance. Recently, there were several rape cases that took place in Haryana and the victims are young adolescent girls. The state has become unsafe for girls. The Khap Panchayat has commented that it is athe girls who are to be blamed and they should be married at an age of 16 years and this will reduce the increasing number of rapes. Recently, Jitender Chhatar a leader of the Khap panchayat of Jind district of Haryana commented that “To my understanding, consumption of fast food contributes to such incidents. Chowmein leads to hormonal imbalance evoking an urge to indulge in such acts.”The leader further said that in view of the fact that chowmein is a spicy food, it gives rise to such “feelings” and therefore the elders are advised to eat light and healthy food. He also said that the recommended light food has nothing to do with the increased cholesterol levels or some disease, veterans may pick up because of unhealthy food. Spicy food increases the “feelings” in people and everybody should abstain from consuming spicy food. This was another solution provided by the Khap leader to prevent rape in the state. Many other such ideas are provided by various Kap Panchayat leaders to prevent rapes. In my view, these comments and ideas are absurd and have nothing to do with increasing rape cases in the state. For the increasing rape cases in the state of Haryana our society is responsible and not the victims. India is a patriarchal society and the male members of the society, in order to show their masculinity they force sex over young girls and women. It has been witnessed that women are still being treated as a material object and are confined within the four walls of the house in the state of Haryana. Women are not material objects; they are also human beings with flesh and blood. These increasing rapes are result of male dominance in the society. However, these increasing incidents of rapes can only be reduced by teaching the children to respect women and this will not be reduced by refraining from eating Chowmein or by marrying a girl at the age of 16 years.
I agree with you that the new ideas given by the various leaders of Khap Panchayat to reduce rapes in Haryana are really absurd and do not offer any proper solution to reduce the increasing crime in the state. The increasing crime in the state can only be reduced by changing the mentality of the people of the state and by giving equal status and respect to women.
The new ideas that the leaders of Khap Panchayat are coming up with are really weird and they have no logic. It is the society that needs to be changed if they want to reduce the increasing cases of rapes in the state of Haryana. Patriarchy that exists in the society should no longer exist and the gender gap should be removed to reduce the increasing crimes. It is the male that are to be blamed and not the female who fall victim of these males.
