Neha Dixit
Tehelka
Few outsiders realize that India has its own, Hindu version of the Taliban, said Neha Dixit. Extremist Hindu authorities known as khap panchayats act like parliaments unto themselves, enforcing Hindu orthodoxy through “honor killings” and other barbaric punishments. Their decree that every woman must bear at least two sons is behind much of the selective abortion and female infanticide in India. But “a twisted notion of tradition ensures the murders are never reported to the police or the media.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
Khaps have existed in northwestern India for centuries; each is a group of 84 villages of the same caste, and a khap panchayat can control thousands of villages. Local governments in those areas are afraid of crossing the khaps, which are widely seen as having greater moral authority than the government that emerged out of British colonialism.
That means millions of Indians are governed by “a barbaric system that glorifies murder and lynching in the name of honor.” Until the political will is found to abolish them, khap panchayats will “continue to brew a poisonous cocktail of crime, ignorance, and bigotry.”
