Khap orders girl to be confined to house

The Delhi high court on Friday asked the city police to produce before it a married woman, who has been allegedly confined to her house by her family members under their “khap (community) panchayat’s illegal diktat and command”.

The Delhi high court on Friday asked the city police to produce before it a married woman, who has been allegedly confined to her house by her family members under their “khap (community) panchayat’s illegal diktat and command”.

A division bench of justice Veena Birbal and justice Manmohan Singh also issued a notice to the state. “Issue notice to the state. Let the status report be filed on June 25. Let the girl be produced on June 25,” the bench said.

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The woman’s 31-year-old husband, a resident of Ghitorni village here, had approached the court saying that he had married the girl from Sultanpur village in September 2008 without the consent of their family members.

He said that the family members were against the marriage as it was “against the conventions of Gujjar caste of Sultanpur and Ghitorni to marry boys and girls from these villages”.

He added that this convention was maintained under the “illegal dictate” of ‘khap panchayats’.

The husband said that due to this they had not told their families about their marriage. But recently his wife had told her family, when they had forced her to marry some other person.

He alleged that the family members of his 28-year-old wife refused to accept their marriage, snatched their marriage certificate and confined her to their house. They were also threatening him with dire consequences, he said.