A Reminder For States Where 'Khaps' Are Thriving

There is no disputing the deplorable truth, that the lawful Government of States, where something utterly unlawful as 'Khap' panchayats are thriving unabashedly,  are in denial of the related perils. From the various things that we have been hearing, watching and reading about the recent illegalities committed by the Khaps, nothing further remains to be said. It is not at all complex to ascertain, that the Khaps are perpetrating crimes. Therefore the only thing that now needs to be done is to remind these State Governments about the legal duty incumbent upon it in this whole episode, hoping that in order to save their own skin they won't be as dismissive about the issue as they are being now.

The following reminder purports to be succinct yet highly relevant

• When 'Khaps' issue threats and / or warnings to the villagers with dire consequences in case they didn’t follow their illegal commands, such acts of the 'Khap' can atleast be squarely brought under the offence of criminal intimidation as defined under Section 503 read with Section 506 of the IPC.

        503. Criminal intimidation.—Whoever threatens another with any injury to his 

       person, reputation or property, or to the person or reputation of any one in whom that 

       person is interested, with intent to cause alarm to that person, or to cause that person 

       to do any act which he is not legally bound to do, or to omit to do any act which that 

       person is legally entitled to do, as the means of avoiding the execution of such threat, 

       commits criminal intimidation.

         506. Punishment for criminal intimidation.—Whoever commits the offence of 

         criminal intimidation shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a 

         term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both. If threat be to cause 

         death or grievous hurt, etc.—and if the threat be to cause death or grievous hurt, or 

         to cause the destruction of any property by fire, or to cause an offence punishable with 

         death or imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 

         seven years, or to impute unchastity to a woman, shall be punished with 

         imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, or 

         with fine, or with both.

• It is equally relevant to remind the concerned authorities about Section 40 of our Code of Criminal Procedure which casts the following duties :-

Section  40. Duty of officers employed in connection with the affairs of a village (see below for meaning) to make certain report 

(1) Every officer employed in connection with the affairs of a village and every person residing in a village shall forthwith communicate to the nearest Magistrate or to the officer in charge of the nearest police station, whichever is nearer, any information which he may possess respecting—

(a) *********

(b) *********

(c) the commission of, or intention to commit, in or near such village any non-bailable offence or any offence punishable under Section 143 (Making an unlawful assembly), Section 144 (Making an unlawful assembly armed with deadly weapons), Section 145 (Joining or continuing in an unl;awful assembly knowing that it has been commanded to disperse), Section 147 (Rioting), or Section 148 (Rioting armed with deadly weapons) of the Indian Penal Code  ;

(d) the occurrence in or near such village of any sudden or unnatural death or of any death under suspicious circumstances or the discovery in or near such village of any corpse or part of a corpse, in circumstances which lead to a reasonable suspicion that such a death has occurred or the disappearance from such village of any person in circumstances which lead to a reasonable suspicion that a non-bailable offence has been committed in respect of such person ;

(e) *****

(f) ******

(2) In this section—

(i) “village” includes village-lands ;

(ii) *******

(iii) the words “officer employed in connection with the affairs of the village” means a member of the Panchayat of the village and includes the headman and every officer or other person appointed to perform any function connected with the administration of the village.

• Apart from the clear legal provisions which the Khaps violate, the said Pnachayats are also in direct violation of the Supreme Court's directives which had declared them to be outright illegal. In its wisdom, the Hon'ble Supreme Court,  on a relevant occasion directed the administrative and police officials to take strong measures to prevent any atrocious acts perpetrated by the Khaps. 

• Court's Warning - The Hon’ble Court had categorically stated that "if any such incidents happen, apart from instituting criminal proceedings against those responsible for such atrocities, the State government concerned is directed to immediately suspend the District Magistrate/Collector and the SSP/SPs of the district as well as other officials concerned and chargesheet them and proceed against them departmentally if they do not prevent the incident if it has not already occurred but they have knowledge of it in advance,or if it has occurred, they do not promptly apprehend the culprits and others involved and institute criminal proceedings against them, as, in our opinion, they will be deemed directly or indirectly accountable in this connection" 

(The Court had directed that a copy of it’s judgment be sent to all Chief Secretaries, Home Secretaries and Directors-General of Police in all States and Union Territories, and circulated to all officers up to the level of District Magistrates and SSP/SP for strict compliance. )

Therefore it's high time that someone moved the Hon'ble Supreme Court or the Hon'ble State High Court of the concerned state against the accountable Government officials, on the strength of the aforementioned legal provisions and / or the aforestated directive of the Apex Court in the wake of recent atrocities perpetrated by the Khaps.

Work Worthy

I've always wondered how can servitude be great, unless you are a servant of the society and work towards the betterment of people. Therefore naturally,  I've always had a difficulty in assuming the role of an employee who is only expected to work towards earning profits for his employer in lieu of his salary. It squeezes me naturally. Probably that's why I switched three jobs in a span of one year. Each time I left one, I promised to myself that I'd start something of my own. But providence forced me to be an employee again and again. I'll probably remain an employee forever. However the thing about my present employment is that I'm no more working for a profit churning enterprise. Rather I am now employed for public service and my prime task is to work for the betterment of the community and country. It may not be entirely how I wanted it to be, but it's so far the best opportunity at service of society, that the Lord Almighty has graced me with.

I used to feel sorry for myself back when I used to work day in and day out for a profit making corporation. It's because in my personal opinion I always considered that it's worthwhile either to toil for your own venture or work for an organization which is into public service and social upliftment and if you cannot do either then find time, in whatever service you are, to devote for meaningful service towards the betterment of our society.

Please don't mistake my preference for enterprising as my apathy against job holders. I have extreme respect for people who choose to work under the directives of an external force, sacrificing many of their yearnings, at times secretly compromising their dreams and self respect, so that they can earn bread for their children and family. RESPECT is the only word I have for them.

 I'm equally pragmatic to not think that everyone must and should become an entrepreneur. That cannot happen. There are diverse life circumstances that engulf people and not everyone can be advised to break free from those and start an enterprise. So I've nothing against employment as such. But at the same time I find it intolerable on the part of those who enjoy the scope of breaking free, to remain job holders forever without planning to do something on their own one day. That'd create employment opportunity and generate income ( augmenting national income) plus his former job can be given to someone more needy. Starting their own new enterprise would also allow them greater independence to manage their time at their convenience to contribute to, in whatever significant way possible, the upliftment of the impoverished and the needy. That's how we could generate a cycle of affluence. There would thus be twin advantages if a salaried job holder, having the opportunity to leave his job,  leaves his job and creates employment opportunities.

I'll share the instance of one of my relatives who hails from a very rich family. I mean, there is no plausible reason why he should go and serve an MNC instead of starting some self made enterprise. But he never quite had the knack to become a profit hankering businessman. So he always used to say 'I'm going to start a NGO which will be into core public service, like legal aid or battling poverty or eradicating lack of education'. I remembering being so proud of him. Then something called MBA happened to him and he's now a glorified labourer, in a foreign company, who mostly goes without availing even his weekends, for a salary of one lakh rupees per month. I called him a laborer because he doesn't even have adequate time for anything except his work. The last time I had a phone conversation with him, he thanked me for updating him about the change of Presidentship in our country. He has time neither for his hobbies nor for important events unfolding in our country and outside, leave alone social work. What infuriates me is not his present job profile, but the sheer disconnect with the world around him, that he has suffered after working there. He's too tired or too busy to even harbour an opinion about contentious issues rocking our nation. That's where the problem begins. (My observation about my cousin is due to life circumstances unique to him and may kindly not be treated as my general opinion about MBA degree holders and / or employees of MNCs)

My point therefore is that we ought to recognize the worth of our work. To ask and keep asking, not only what good the job will do to me but also  'What good will it do to our society ?' I'm sure it isn't practical for everyone to be in social service as it isn't possible for everyone to start a business enterprise. Yet we can do our share by fixing atleast a day every month to find out where we can contribute what, beyond just the profits for our employer.

My maternal grandfather, who was working in the legal field, wherever he used to be transferred in his service, picked one impoverished child in his neighborhood, and paid for his / her high school education not only till he worked there but also after he was transferred from that place. I saw so many faces, whom I didn't know, many of whom even my elders didn't recognize, who had come to pay him their reverence at his funeral. It was only when they together came up and introduced themselves that we realized the fruits of his dedication.

 I'll also furnish a more domestic example. Back in his village he also tirelessly educated and even at times reprimanded the men of our extended family who would blissfully consume all the food cooked for the day without even bothering to leave a near equal share for the women folk. He began his crusade by openly admonishing the women in our family saying that it's their fault that they keep on serving everything on the platter without uttering a single word. He changed that by doing away with the culture of separate eating times for men and women. He ensured that all of us ate together and,  when that wasn't possible, he stayed adamant to see that women ate first. I found it remarkably path breaking for a man born in the dark times and surrounded by super orthodox people to think so ahead of that age. My mother brought that culture along and introduced it in our home. She met with terrible resistance initially, especially from the women folk. But she managed to establish that code of eating as far as she could, including in almost all houses of her the then (1980s) neighbourhood, when women did not dare to stand around when men were discussing things.

The reason why I cited this example is because I want to emphasize that our contribution to the society need not necessarily be headline grabbing or front page news. It could be the smallest of works but with such significance as to eradicate a difficulty and establish equality and order.

That's part of the reason why I have never quite approved the way our education system works. From inception to the end, it prepares the youth to become the best follower among a band of followers. No one ever encourages you to either innovate nor prepares you for the difficulties and tribulations of undertaking risks, be it those in business or pursuing an unconventional service. However I will not take away the credit that most ascribe to it in terms of having developed a very competitive and elaborate syllabus and a challenging examination scheme.

At the cost of repetition I'd reiterate that whether you are a job holder or not, introspect and unravel the worth of your work. If you are employed in a business, make time for doing some substantially objective work for the aid of our ailing community and country. Figure out for yourself, what it is that you can do to better things around you. If you are up for it then always keep planning to start your own venture, which atleast will ensure that you will create employment and generate income for many people. If you are running a business, then have the heart to keep a share of your profit for fulfilling your social responsibility and the mind to keep getting better at it as you do at your business. If you are a public servant, don't be lethargic or corrupt, simply work for the goal that you signed up for. I need not tell you that the innumerable afflictions rotting our society require the roles of all of us, small or big, in freeing it from them. So let's work worthy.

This post may kndly not be taken as my prejudices against job holders. I myself am a job holder. I have nothing against job holders, except that I would want to see more and more job holders devoting time for social service. Our community and nation are in dire need of our concerted efforts in that direction. It'd require tremendous sacrifice. Imagine coming back from office at 9 in the night and still having the zeal to do something. It'd require planning, management and of course cooperation at various levels, particularly from family members.

** P.S. I have always wanted to write on this issue, but never really wanted to be mistaken as a preacher. So I kept dodging my own wish at writing this post. However I got in touch with a fabulous blogger named Bhishma Choudhury who blogs his views emphatically at http://sanki.in/ about the myriad issues concerning our youth and our nation with a focus on the tardiness of our education system, and encouraging entrepreneurial aspirations of the youth. It was his latest post @  http://sanki.in/2012/09/03/somethings-are-better-left-untitled/  which gave me the required impetus to write what I've been wanting to write for a long time. Check out his blog for similar experiences.

My Article "Anna Hazare ji Joining Politics. Whose test will it be ? His or Ours ? " @ Vivid Magazine

In yet another encouraging gesture, Vivid Online Magazine has showcased my article about Annaji and his team joining politics and its significance, on their website.

My dear readers can read this article here .        

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Anna Hazare ji Joining Politics. Whose test will it be ? His or Ours ?

This article is now available at Vivid Online Magazine.


Kindly read the article here and feel free to share your valuable opinions regarding this significant turning point in Indian politics.

(Opinions expressed in this article are the author's views on his perceptions of the socio - political   
   state of our country and are not to be inferred or construed in any manner whatsoever, as his 
    affiliation to or disapproval of any political party or any organization or any particular class of  
    people.)