Ghaziabad: A day after a couple sought police
protection following a threat issued by a khap panchayat, the
district administration today warned the self-styled caste
council in village Sikandarpur Kakodh against taking law into
their hands.
District Magistrate Hridesh Kumar also directed that all
the panchayat members be bound under personal sureties of Rs 1
lakh each.
Objecting to the marriage of Sheetal Singh and Sudhir
Singh (belonging to the same gotra), the khap panchayat in
Sikandarpur Kakodh had on Thursday threatened to evict them
from the village if they did not end their relationship.
Sheetal (21) was asked to treat Sudhir (24) as her
brother and tie a rakhi on his wrist or leave the village by
the khap panchayat, prompting them to seek police protection.
Superintendent of Police (Rural) MM Baig said adequate
police force has been deployed to protect the couple to let
them stay in the village.
Meanwhile, the khap panchayat members will be holding a
Mahapanchayat next week on the issue of same gotra marriages
in the Jat community.
Both Sheetal and Sudhir belong to the Jat community and
the same gotra.
The two eloped in November 2009 and got married in a
temple. They remained together as husband and wife for some
time but returned to their village to get the consent of their
parents who strongly opposed their union.
The couple had only three days ago disclosed that they
were married after which the khap panchayat met.
PTI
