Khap row: SC asks police to produce youth

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the UP police to produce a <g data-gr-id="14">dalit</g> man, whose two sisters were allegedly ordered to be raped and paraded naked by a ‘khap panchayat’ to suffer punishment for his affair with an upper-caste girl and eloping with her.

A Bench of Justices J Chelameswar and AM <g data-gr-id="21"><g data-gr-id="16">Sapre</g>,</g> sought the presence of the man before it on Wednesday. The man was recently arrested in connection with a case lodged under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. On Monday, the court had asked Vivek Singh, the girl’s counsel, to bring her and other family members before it on Tuesday. The girl’s brother had recently allegedly eloped with an upper-caste girl, a habeas corpus petition said. The girl, who hails from Baghpat, has claimed that she had to flee her village due to atrocities by members of Jat community and the UP Police. She and her family cannot return to her village and have been rendered homeless, she had said.

“The petitioner has been condemned by the Khap Panchayat to be raped and paraded naked because her brother fell in love and eloped with her friend and neighbour who belongs to the dominant caste of Jat,” her plea said. 

‘Khap panchayat’ is a body of village elders, mainly in North India, which have emerged as quasi-judicial bodies that pronounce harsh punishments based on age-old regressive customs.