I do endorse. -AarizMohammed --- On Fri, 23/4/10, lynne henry <[email protected]> wrote:
From: lynne henry <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [humanrights-movement:2492] Fwd: Please endorse>> Statement on the Khap Maha Panchayat To: [email protected] Date: Friday, 23 April, 2010, 8:30 PM hi, do pls cc your responses to the id below as well [email protected] peace ~ On Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 8:27 PM, kiran shaheen <[email protected]> wrote: I endorse the statement. In Solidarity, Kiran Shaheen On Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 9:32 PM, Kamayani <[email protected]> wrote: Dear all, Please see below statement about the recent Khap Maha Panchayat. If you would like to endorse this statement, please send us a mail by Sunday 25th April 2010. We are planning to send it to the Chief Ministers of Delhi, Haryana, UP and Rajasthan. In Solidarity, Janaki and Deepti for Saheli [email protected] Love, Honour and Killer Khaps We read with shock and outrage about the Khap Maha Panchayat held in Kurukshetra on the 13th of April 2010 at which over 4000 khap panchayat members from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi vowed to fight for the seven people convicted recently in a “honour-killing” case. They valorised those who killed Babli (19) and Manoj (23) and argued that those who murdered them “honoured traditional values” which must be upheld. The khaps decided to collect money from all Khap members to provide support to the convicted and vowed to mobilise public opinion against the court order. They also decided to give 1 lakh Rupees to the families of those convicted. Such barbaric acts and support of these acts must be condemned. No caste or community has the license to kill under any pretext, nor to glorify such murders. In June 2007, Babli and Manoj from Karoran village near Kaithal in Haryana were killed. The ‘sin’ for which they were fatally punished was that they married each other against the wishes of Babli’s family. Babli’s family’s disapproval was linked to both of them belonging to the same ‘gotra’ (lineage). This led the panchayat to declare the marriage as ‘void’ and a witch-hunt for the two was ordered. Within a month of their marriage, they were tracked down and brutally murdered by Babli’s family members to uphold the verdict of the khap panchayat. Babli was poisoned and Manoj was strangled. Their bodies were thrown into a canal. As in most cases of so called ‘honour’ killings, in this case too the killers were family members; Babli’s brother, two of her cousins, two uncles and a distant relative. The couple had clearly feared the violent reaction from the community, because when they eloped and got married they had sought protection from the High Court in Chandigarh which in turn had directed the Haryana Police to provide them with security. The policeman who was deployed to provide them security is suspected of revealing their whereabouts to Babli's family! He is currently facing departmental action. Manoj’s mother, Chanderpati, refused to take this lying down and decided to fight to get justice. She filed a complaint with the police and also approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court for justice. Chanderpati lives a very difficult life because she has been ostracised by the villagers. They do not speak to her, do not sell her any groceries and blame her for wanting to seek justice. This is believed to be one of the first instance in Haryana where an affected family has gone to court against such a killing. As a result of this case, a court in Karnal (Haryana) held 7 people guilty and pronounced its Judgement in April 2010. Those sentenced to death were all family members of Babli. The head of the panchayat in Haryana's Kaithal district, which ruled against the couple's marriage, has been given life imprisonment and a driver found to have helped abduct the couple was given a seven-year prison term. This verdict was pronounced by Additional District and Sessions Judge Vani Gopal Sharma, who herself unfortunately is facing threats for this judgement and has been provided a security cover by the Karnal Police. She continues to face the Khaps’ ire and has recently requested a transfer. This was not the first time that Haryana's Khap panchayats have come in the way of lovers. In many cases diktats have been made against young couples who are believed to have crossed community and caste rules and familial authority. In many cases the real threat appears to have been ‘choice’ marriage itself. (Although, in some cases marriages arranged by the parents of a couple have similarly faced Khap-terror because it was found out later that the couple were of the same gotra). These pronouncements have often led to many young lives being brutally snuffed out. While we hail the judgement made in the District and Sessions Court as a step in the right direction to bring not only the killers but also the khap panchayats to task, we do not support the death penalty. It is important that steps are taken to curtail the powers of these self-styled panchayats which function contrary to rights laid down in the Constitution and act as a law unto themselves. It is also extremely important to strengthen people’s faith in the police and judiciary so they can complain against such diktats that deny the right to life and liberty and the right to choice marriages. There are no official statistics on the number of ‘honour’ killings in India, but media reports are full of such cases where young couples are driven to suicide or killed by family members for marrying outside caste, community, or within the village and gotra. It is extremely important to recognise these so–called ‘honour’ killings as a crime and find ways to prevent these killings. Not only has the Khap mahapanchayat held on the 13th of April, 2010 glorified the killers, but they have also given a loud and clear message to the government that caste and family ‘honour’ is above the law. They also demanded that the Hindu Marriage Act be amended to ban marriages within the same gotra for the sake of ‘restoring social norms’. We demand: - That further action is taken against the Khap leaders who made statements at the Khap Mahapanchayat that amount to the glorification of murder and the valourisation of the killers. - That the State Governments and Courts take suo motu cognizance of various media reports and institute an enquiry into incidents of ‘honour’ killings in Northern India. - That state governments take strict action to protect the rights of citizens to choose their own partners. - Strong action be taken against all those who have threatened Sessions Judge Vani Gopal Sharma to ensure that the members of the judiciary are not intimidated in this manner. - That action is taken against all those policemen who did not perform their duty, leading to the killing of Babli and Manoj. The ugly nexus between Khap leaders, the police, and local politicians should be exposed to ensure that fundamental rights laid down in our Constitution are upheld. Signatures: 1. Saheli, New Delhi 2. -- Saheli Women's Resource Centre Above Unit 105-108 Defence Colony Flyover Market New Delhi 100 024 -- Adv Kamayani Bali Mahabal +919820749204 skype-lawyercumactivist "After a war, the silencing of arms is not enough. Peace means respecting all rights. You can’t respect one of them and violate the others. When a society doesn’t respect the rights of its citizens, it undermines peace and leads it back to war.” -- Maria Julia Hernandez www.otherindia.org www.binayaksen.net www.phm-india.org www.phmovement.org www.ifhhro.org -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en. -- Kiran Shaheen -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en.
