SC seeks presence of Dalit girl threatened by 'Khap Panchayat'

The Supreme Court, to ascertain the factual position, today sought the presence of a 23 year- old girl who was allegedly ordered to be raped and paraded naked by a 'khap panchayat' as punishment for her brother falling in love with an upper-caste girl and eloping with her.
A bench comprising justices J Chelameswar and A M Sapre, directed the Uttar Pradesh police not to arrest the brother of the girl till tomorrow and sought the physical presence of other family members before it tomorrow.
The brother had allegedly recently eloped with an upper- caste girl, a habeas corpus petition, filed by the girl through lawyer Vivek Singh, said. The court's directions came after it heard the plea.

The girl, who hails a village in Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh, has claimed that she had to "flee her village due to atrocities of members of Jat community and the UP Police. She and her family cannot return to her village and have been rendered homeless.
"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 Krishna who belongs to the dominant caste of Jat," the plea said.
A '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.

The plea further contended that the brother's affair had invited the wrath of police and Jat community as a consequence of which her family members were abducted and tortured by the police.
"My brother has also been falsely implicated by the police in a NDPS case and due to harassment and immense pressure from the girl's family, he and his wife surrendered before Delhi Police at Mehrauli police station," it said.
The girl has also stated that her father had lodged a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission and National Commission for Scheduled Castes about the harassment being meted out to her by police and khap panchayat.