New Delhi: The Supreme Court Tuesday asked a petitioner from Bolangir district to approach the Orissa High Court against the decision of a khap panchayat that ordered a 10-year boycott of the petitioner’s family.
A two-judge bench of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Vineet Saran observed that since the matter pertains to only one state and the petitioner has sought relief for himself, it would not entertain the petition. The court dismissed the petition with liberty to the petitioner to approach the Orissa High Court in the matter.
A petition was filed in the Supreme Court by Satyabadi Nayak of Bolangir district contending that a khap panchayat in Odisha had in September 2018 ordered social boycott of the petitioner and his family for 10 years for alleged violation of norms of the panchayat. The petitioner was ordered to live in isolation without any cooperation from the community.
Nayak had prayed the apex court to direct the state government to constitute a special cell in each district and launch prosecutions against such unlawful acts by khap panchayats through kangaroo courts. He contended that the constitution and by-laws of khap panchayat are in violation of the Fundamental Rights.
The petitioner submitted that the khap panchayat, 84 Ghar Agharia Samaaj, was established in 1937 in Western Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh with an objective to uplift the Agharia Samaaj.
The khap panchayat has its own constitution and laws. The people of Agharia caste are being punished for violation of these laws framed by it.
The petitioner was punished for alleged violation of khap panchayat laws during the marriage of his son. He also alleged that his daughter-in-law suffered the miscarriage due to the trauma caused by the decision of the khap panchayat and no one from the village came to the rescue of his daughter-in-law.