'If there were no khaps [...] everything will go haywire [...] young boys and girls will start marrying into the same gotra' Understanding khap-Directed 'Honour Killings' in Northern India
Since the early 2000s, the rural landscape of Northern India has been dominated by a parallel system of governance — the khap2 (caste) panchayats.3 These caste panchayats sanction acts of gendered violence and override any notion of equality or gender empowerment, which the Indian constitution endeavoured to provide to women at the grassroots level. Khap panchayat imposes its writ through social boycotts and fines, but also in murdering victims or forcing them to commit suicide (Sangwan, 2010; Gupta and Seth, 2007). The state of Haryana has seen the most extreme cases of these ‘honour’ killings, though other states such as Uttar Pradesh have witnessed similar incidents.4 Most of the caste panchayat diktats are against young girls or against young couples accused of having transgressed customary norms through disapproved marriage. In most cases these young couples have been brutally murdered in full view of the village communities. Though khap panchayats were believed to be multi-caste (sarv jatiya) bodies (Singh, 2010), in a few districts such as Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh they have come to be dominated by Jats,5 who have used constitutional protections and provisions to expand their political and economic influence (Gupta, 2000). This upwardly mobile ‘backward’ caste has come to exercise considerable influence (Bharadwaj, 2012; Thapar-Bjorkert, 2006) demographically (on the basis of its population), economically (through extensive farm holdings) and politically (through dominance in local administration and politics).
Myth and Reality of the Khap Panchayats: A Historical Analysis of the Panchayat and Khap Panchayat*
During the past few years, marriages within ‘gotra’ (clan) of the Jat community have come into the limelight. Frequently, those couples who have eloped have been brutally murdered by the diktats of the elders—these are known as ‘honour killings’. Many such incidents have occurred in Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh and the rural belt of Delhi. These areas have reaped the fruits of modernization and access to various facilities such as educational institutions, health centres, modernized roads and multinational business establishments that have encouraged foreign investment. There exists a vast gulf between this modernization and the almost feudal mind sets of people like the ‘Khap Panchayats’ who force couples who have entered intra-gotra marriages to return to the community fold, even to the extent of forcing the couples to live like siblings. A large number of such wedded couples have even lost their lives. Thus, as per their gotra affinity, the Khap Panchayats consider them as brother and sister. The Khap Panchayats try to legitimize their actions by quoting historical antecedents of uncertain origin to support their practices. They are of the opinion that the Khap Panchayat is an age old institution, having its foundation in the early medieval period.
Caste: Its Twentieth Century Avatar
As India attempts to modernize and ready itself for the twenty-first century, the issue of caste takes on an overwhelming importance. What form does caste take today How can its debilitating aspects be countered This book, edited and introduced by one of India's most eminent sociologists, attempts to answer these and other crucial questions. 
 
The essays in this volume, each authored by an expert on the subject, include a stimulating assessment of the role of women in perpetuating caste; incisive analyses of the relationship between caste and the economy, and between caste and Hinduism; a review of the backward class movements in Tamil Nadu; a commentary on the power struggle in UP and Bihar amongst the backward castes; the relationship between efficiency and job reservation; observations on caste amongst Muslims and Christians in India and critiques of the Mandal Commission Report and the Mandal judgement.