New Delhi, May 18 (UNI) Responding against honour killings, a women's institution working on social action has launched an online campaign requesting the President of India to ban verdicts by Khap panchayats that justify cruelty and murder.
Launched by the Centre for Social Research(CSR), the campaign urges the citizens to support the initiative against the panchayats who have been dictating ruthless verdicts and operating as parallel courts, becoming a social challenge.
''The so-called 'preservers of the Indian tradition' are surpassing the Panchayati Raj Institution and Indian Judicial System thereby violating the rights of individuals in a democracy,'' CSR director Ranjana Kumari said.
The tyranny unleashed by the Khap panchayats on the pretext of safeguarding tradition needed to be quelled under threat of severe punishment, she added.
People can join the campaign by clicking on the following link, http//www.ipetitions.com/petition/bankillingsinthenameofhonor/.
Dr Kumari noted that the petitions will be sent to President Pratibha Devisingh Patil almost every day.
The social activist added that by creating the false impression that all marriages of choice between young couples are incestuous, ''the Khaps are actually opposing the right to choose a marriage partner.''
Referring to the Khap Panchayats in Haryana who are now seeking legal sanction for verdicts, she said, ''Lawyers and public representatives are backing such self-imposed caste-based dictators, mainly emboldened by the political patronage they
receive.''
She alleged that such self-styled counsels were common in the interior areas of several states mainly Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan.
Condemning the gruesome acts of killings in the name of 'honour', Dr Kumari asserted that every adult has a right to marry a partner of his or her choice and no self-styled council have the right to impose their choice on them.
''There is a strong need to ban such panchayats and councils,'' she added.
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