By Neha Choudhary
Introduction
India is the most important country when it comes to democracy though many countries struggled in yielding India to military rule and dictatorship. India has a democratic Government for more competent and efficient functioning with peaceful harmony of ideas and ideals.
After getting independence in 1947, India opted for parliamentary democracy. The powers have been administered to competent hands for the convenient mechanism of the system and it is balanced at the central and the state level. Moreover, there arises the need for the advancement of the rural areas as well.
Thus, for the rural development, the Panchayati Raj, the system of local rural Government in India for the egalitarian control which is responsible for the administration at the local agrarian level has been established in all the states.
The governance of the Panchayati Raj has been Constitutionalized under Part IV by the 73rd Amendment Act, 1992 though not being the new concept for India.
This Article talks about the concept of Panchayat and its functions.
What is Panchayat?
Panchayat, commonly known as ‘Panchayati Raj’ or a ‘village council rule’ as the words denote is “an elective council of about five members organized in the republic of India as an organ of village self-Government”.[1]
It is mainly a political system found in many countries like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, etc. according to Article 243B:
Panchayat shall be constituted in every State, Panchayats at the village, intermediate, and district levels in accordance with the provisions of this Part.
In India, it has been well-established in almost every state except Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Mizoram and all Union Territories except Delhi and the provision for the same has been provided under Article 243M of the Constitution.
The system of Panchayati Raj has been established under Article 243 by the amendment for democracy at the ground level and Schedules 11 and 12 were being supplemented to administer powers to the local bodies.
The council for the committee is respected or esteemed elders of the particular area selected by the community and the elected head is called ‘Sarpanch’.
These committees are set up for the matters within the area and thus settle disputes or disagreements between the individuals and villages.
The system of Panchayati Raj was recommended by Mahatma Gandhi as the part of the democratic and political system of India as a scattered form, however, the modern form of the system was formalized in India where each village will be accountable for their administration and delegate functions to the local level, entrusting elected gram Panchayat is different from the Gandhi’s system.
Moreover, the modern system of Panchayati Raj and its Gram Panchayat are neither blended with the traditional system nor with the Khap Panchayat which is established in certain parts of northern India.
Article 40 of the Constitution authorizes the state to take steps to formulate Village Panchayats and provide them with necessary powers, functions, and authorities to facilitate them to operate as units of self-Government.
Before the 73rd Amendment Act, there were several commissions appointed by the Government of India to study the implementation of self-Government at the ground level and also propose steps in accomplishing this goal.
The committees appointed are as follows:
- Balwant Rai Mehta Committee
- Ashok Mehta Committee
- G V K Rao Committee
- L M Singhvi Committee
What are the salient features of the 73rd Amendment Act?
Panchayati Raj is the three-tier legislation at the rural level which includes:
- Gram Panchayat at the village level
- Block Panchayat or Panchayat Samiti at the intermediate level
- Zilla Panchayat at the district level
The Gram Panchayat is the only permanent unit in the Panchayati Raj system whose functions are powers are provided by the state legislature.
It is the Constitutional body of the Panchayati Raj system and subsists all the registered voters within the area of the Panchayat.
- Article 243C:
“A Panchayat at the village level shall be elected in such a manner as the Legislature of a State may by law apply therefore, the Chairperson at the village level are elected as determined by the state Government. Under the intermediate and the district level, the chairpersons are elected indirectly from the elected members.”[2]
- According to Article 243D of the Constitution of India:
“Seats shall be reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, in every Panchayat and the number of reserved seats shall be the same proportion to the total number of seats to be filled by direct election in that Panchayat. There shall not be less than one-third of the total number of seats reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes or, the Scheduled Tribes. This policy extends to the office of the chairperson at all levels as well.”
- The duration of all the levels of Panchayat is a five-year term office which can, however, be dissolved before the completion of the term and in that case, the elections shall be conducted for the formation of new Panchayat before the expiry of the period of six months from the date of its dissolution and under normal circumstances before the five-year duration ends.[3]
- According to Article 243F, A person shall be disqualified for being chosen as a member of a Panchayat if he is disqualified by or under any law for the time being in force for elections to the Legislature of the State, however, no person shall be disqualified on the ground that he is less than twenty-five years of age.
- Another essential feature of the Panchayati Raj system is that the state election commission is responsible for conducting elections for Panchayat; however, the state legislature may make provisions concerning all matters relating to elections to the Panchayat.[4]
- Article 243M of the Constitution states the powers to impose taxes and funds of the Panchayat and thus states that the:
“The Legislature of a State may, by law-
- authorize a Panchayat to levy, collect and appropriate such taxes, duties, tolls, and fees in accordance with such procedure and subject to such limits; assign to a Panchayat such taxes, duties, tolls, and fees levied and collected by the State Government for such purposes and subject to such conditions and limits;
- provide for making such grants-in-aid to the Panchayats from the Consolidated Fund of the State; and
- Provide for Constitution of such Funds for crediting all money received, respectively, by or on behalf of the Panchayats and also for the withdrawal of such money therefrom, as may be specified in the law.”
- The Courts are barred from interfering in the electoral matters of Panchayat. It declares the validity of any law relating to the delimitation of constituencies or the allotment of seats to such constituencies cannot be questioned in any court.[5]
What is the importance of the Panchayat System?
- The village council system is the oldest system which has now being Constitutionalized through the amendment. In a historical context, it has always been important for the efficient functioning of the local Government.
- The 73rd Amendment Act brought the Constitutional value to the functioning of the Government at the root level to ensure the progress of rural improvement via people’s cooperation and involvement in the development programs and schemes at the ground level.
- In a country like India, there is disparate democracy and the idea of fixating powers and function under a single head can thus create imbalance. Therefore, the distribution of the powers to different authorities is necessary for effective work under experts at different levels and decentralizing powers to for example Panchayat, Zilla Parishad, etc.
- Another decisive aspect is the participation by the SC’s or ST’s and women which thereby promotes disadvantaged sections and women empowerment through the provision of reservation under Article 243 D that provides one-third of seats for women and in Panchayati Raj institutions (PRIs) which in some states has increased up to fifty percent.
- The powers and functions stated under schedule 11 provide the responsibilities to the PRIs for the governance of rural development, agriculture or land development, etc.[6]
What is the Khap Panchayat System?
Khap Panchayat is a Panchayat system with Khap elders where Khap is a group representing the Jat community in the parts of northern India i.e. Maharashtra, Chennai, Madhya Pradesh, Malawi, Rajasthan, Sindh, etc. and mainly in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
This system of Panchayat is considered important for the community of jats and is not sanctioned by the Government and is not affiliated through formally elected Government bodies.
It has no official ministry authority, however, exercises significant social influence within the Khap community.
Khap Panchayat has been known from time immemorial as monopolized by the male community and decisions that have been taken by them depict their patriarchal ideology.
Khap Panchayats have been in news for the pronouncements and decisions passed by them in a particular matter which are even being criticized by the public in general.
Presently, Khap Panchayat has taken decisions about the matters relating to inter-caste marriages which lead to ‘honor killing’ as they consider inter-caste marriage as an offense and the ultimate punishment for committing such an offense is death which, however, according to facts, police officials also fail to aid the victims of such punishments.
Although honor killing is an offense under the Indian penal code and regards the offenders as murderers.
It has also been seen that Khap Panchayat also promotes forced marriages and female foeticide. Khap Panchayat pressurizes one or both parties for the forceful marriage as they believe that it is illegal to marry the person from the same village or of the same gotra as they are considered brother and sister and thus it is necessary for them to get married outside the village.
Some of the recent happenings and horrifying practices adopted by the Khap Panchayat in the name of administration of justice are:
- Chopping or cutting off the body part of the accused to get the truth out of them.
- The accused of a particular act is forced to either run naked or ride over the donkey in the whole village.
- To check the innocence of the accused, the person’s hands are tied up with a hot iron stick and he is forced to take seven steps and if no injury or burn is caused then the accused is innocent.
- The Khap force the accused to get into the vessel of hot boiling oil to get a coin and if he succeeds, he is proved not guilty.
- Khap Panchayat makes decisions for the families to either threaten, killed or force the young girls to commit suicide. There have been cases where Families fed their teenage girls with pesticides and burn their bodies to get rid of them without even a hint to the police.[7]
- After all the justice prevailed by them in their way, the Khap Panchayat still has no answers for the rapes committing in the society as according to them, girls should be married off at an early age to avoid rape. The case was in the news as a Dalit girl committed suicide after being gang-raped and was not being supported by the Khap.[8]
- Khap Panchayat has even ruled against the women using mobiles and wearing jeans. [9]
- Khap Panchayat has even blamed fast-food consumption as the reason for committing rapes.[10]
- It has also been seen that the Khap Panchayat forced the offenders to bathe publicly to wash off their sins.[11]
These horrifying incidents either to judge the person’s innocence and killing people for the crime that is not at all a crime in the eyes of law for example law reinforces the inter-caste marriage under special marriage act which Khap Panchayat does not support and thus opt for committing honor killing which is thereby a crime under IPC.
Despite the heinous incidents and decisions for “justice” that have been taken by the community, the Khap Panchayat is still a fundamental body and has paramount importance in the community of jats as it deals with their daily issues, friendly relations with neighboring villages, maintain their important customs and beliefs and various other political and social reasons due to which Khap system has become stronger over the time without Government recognition as politicians and vote bank politics still allow them to work.
However, there have been instances where the Supreme Court took a stand against the decisions made by the Khap Panchayat referring to honor killing and also stated that no third party whether parents, villagers, or Khap can harass them as they are adults and has a right to make their decisions.
There are certain abhorrent and despicable decisions taken by the Khap Panchayat:
- The case of Manoj and Babli honor killing was all over the news when in June 2007 – two newlyweds were killed as the order passed by the Khap Panchayat as it was an inter-caste marriage. They were killed by their family members and their bodies were wrapped in the bags and thrown out of a canal.[12]
- Another case when newlyweds were brutally tortured as they were tied up against the tree and the villagers stripped the clothes of the women and tortured her till death. The couple was relentlessly beaten up by the villages as per order from Khap.[13]
- In 2015, a woman named Mamta Bai from Rajasthan was forced to either pay compensation of Rs 3 lakhs or live with Rajendra Meghwal as her wife eloped with her husband. The order was passed by the Khap Panchayat with the view of prevailing justice.[14]
Conclusion
Panchayat is a political system of governance at a rural level with an intention of advancement at the root level. Panchayati Raj is an age-old system of local Government which was also opinioned by Mahatma Gandhi but get Constitutionalized by the 73rd Amendment Act of 1992 and mentioned under Article 243 of the Constitution.
The Amendment Act, thus, states certain essential features for the Panchayati Raj system from Article 243A to 243O of the Constitution of India.
The modern system of Panchayati Raj is neither same as the historic system nor has anything in common with Khap Panchayati which are found in certain parts of northern India.
Khap Panchayat is a social and political community that comprises the upper caste and elderly men from the Jat community. This Panchayat system has been considered the male-dominant community as there have been many instances to prove the male chauvinist ideology of the community.
The way they have taken their decisions and prevail justice in their way by committing a crime themselves had have been criticized.
Even after the criticism, they have become stronger over time and have still been administering justice according to their ideologies.
References
- Mariam Webster dictionary ↑
- The Constitution of India, Article 243 C ↑
- The Constitution of India, Article 243 E ↑
- The Constitution of India, Article 243 K ↑
- The Constitution of India, Article 243 O ↑
- The Constitution of India, Article 243 G ↑
- Mr.Sanjay Singh and Mr.Garvit S.Pawar, “ KHAP PANCHAYAT: ANALYSIS IN LIGHT OF JURISPRUDENCE” available at : docs.manupatra.in(Jan – Mar., 2016) ↑
- India Today Online, “What is Khap Panchayat?” available at: indiatoday.in (last visited on October 11, 2012) ↑
- Ritesh K Srivastava, “UP shocker: Muzaffarnagar khap panchayat bans jeans for girls, warns violators will be boycotted” available at: zeenews.india.com( last visited on Mar 11, 2021) ↑
- Manveer Saini, “Haryana Khap blames consumption of chowmein for rapes” available at: timesofindia.indiatimes.com ( last visited on October 16, 2012) ↑
- IANS, ”Khap Panchayat in Rajasthan Forces Man, Woman to Bathe Publicly to ‘Wash off Sins’” available at : india.com (last visited on September 3, 2020) ↑
- Disha Gupta, “THE PRE AND POST SCENARIO OF HONOR KILLING AFTER MANOJ-BABLI CASE” available at: intolegalworld.com (last visited on April 14, 2021)↑
- India news, “Eight arrested for stripping, beating couple in Rajasthan” available at: firstpost.com( last visited on July 24, 2012) ↑
- Aabshar H Quazi , “Khap diktat: Women persist with complaints; Panchayat and police refute charges” available at: hindustantimes.com (last visited on APR 21, 2015) ↑