Referring to the controversy over recent "casteist judgments" by panchayats, Union Panchayati Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar clarified in Delhi on 19 October 2004 that these "social" rulings had nothing to do with the duly elected panchayats under the provisions of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment.

Recently, a panchayat in Haryana ordered the dissolution of the marriage of a couple and asked the husband and his pregnant wife to live like "a brother and a sister." The panchayat of Assanda village in Jhajjar district directed the couple belonging to the "Dahiya" gotra and "Rathee" gotra to refrain from leading a married life while accusing them of belonging to the same caste.

In another incident, a "maha panchayat" of 52 villages in Fatehabad district of Haryana ordered the dissolution of a marriage of 2002 on the grounds that the bride and the groom belonged to the same gotra.

In yet another incident, a panchayat near Meerut asked an eight-month pregnant Gudiya to return to her first husband, who was a prisoner of war for several years in Pakistan. Gudiya is pregnant by her second husband whom she married four years after her first husband went missing.

An interference

Referring to these rulings, Aiyar said these were not in conformity with the Constitutional provisions or based on the objectivity of being free of caste and creed consideration. Some caste groups, calling themselves panchayats, were interfering in matters relating to marriage and other social issues.

The Constitution and the panchayati raj legislation do not vest any such powers with elected panchayats and these were, in no way, connected with such incidents. The activities of caste groups which had styled themselves as panchayats were beyond the jurisdiction of any legally vested authority and would need to be dealt with according to the laws of the land, he said.

The Joint Action Front for Women has demanded that "caste panchayats" come under the legal framework to prevent women from being victimised. In a statement, the Front, a group of more than 70 women's organisations, said that such incidents had become a regular feature because the caste panchayats were controlled by the patriarchy in rural society.

According to the Front, which visited Assanda village and met the families of both the victims, the most serious concern was the growing insensitiveness towards women and their problems. The local leaders of such self-appointed courts, mostly men, were becoming more confident that they would get away with any judgment against women. 

(Courtesy: The Hindu)