Why in the news ?

• Chief Justice of India , speaking against honour killings, said that Two adults are free to marry and “no third party” has a right to harass or cause harm to them.
• The court is hearing a petition filed by Shakti Vahini, an NGO, to make honour killing a specific crime.

Background

• In 2007, A Haryana court awarded the death sentence to five persons and life imprisonment to one person for killing a personfor killing a couple on the orders of a self-styled khap panchayat for marrying against societal norms.
• In 2014, A community panchayat in U.P. banned girls from wearing jeans and using mobile phones, claiming that these had a bad effect on them and were responsible for events of sexual harsasment.
• In 2015, A khap of Notara Bhopat village in Rajasthan ordered a women to live with a man, whose wife eloped with her husband

More on news

• “When two people get into wedlock, no one should interfere. Neither parents, society, khap or panchayat.. no one at all,” said Chief Justice, leading a three-judge Bench that upheld the fundamental right of two people who wish to marry and live peacefully.
• A senior counsel, who represented the khap panchayats, objected to them being portrayed as “inciters” of honour killings.
• The counsel said such panchayats were age-­old traditions and they did encourage inter­caste marriages now.
• He argued that the objection of khaps to marriages between people from the same  gotra was upheld in Section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955. The Section said, “Sapinda should be removed by five degrees from the father’s side and by three degrees from the mother’s side.”
• He said only 3% of honour killings were linked to gotra. The remaining 97% were due to religion and other reasons.
• He further added that marriage within the same gotra led to genetic deformity in children, the counsel argued.
• But the Chief Justice said the court was not concerned about khap panchayats either. “We are not writing an essay here on traditions, lineages, etc. We are only concerned with the freedom of adults to marry and live together without facing harassment,” he said.

Source

The Hindu.