Indian court orders caste councils to stop interfering in marriages

India’s self-appointed caste councils do not have the right to stop marriage between consenting adults, the country’s top court declared on Tuesday.

The councils, called khap panchayats, are controversial in India and are accused of ordering “honour killings’’ of inter-caste couples.

The Supreme Court laid down a set of preventive and punitive measures intended to last until the central government passes a law to cover the councils.

A non-profit organisation, Shakti Vahini, launched legal proceedings in 2010 following repeated incidences of honour killings in north Indian states.

The group asked the court to issue instructions to the government to prevent such violence.

“The landmark judgment says any community body including khap panchayats or caste councils stopping marriages is illegal,” said lawyer Ravi Kant, the president of Shakti Vahini.

“The court has framed guidelines to protect the life and liberty of consenting adults. These guidelines will hold the administration accountable to protect the couples,” he said.

While most of the rigidities of the caste-based society have disappeared, inter-caste marriages in rural India are still frowned on.

Leaders from the powerful khap panchayats, claiming to be custodians of local caste and kinship traditions, continue to give orders sanctioning violence and even the killing of couples for marrying outside their caste.

This is in spite the Supreme Court previously recommending the death penalty for those committing honour killings and punishments for caste leaders, who order the murders.

During the hearings, the Supreme Court excoriated the caste councils for taking the law into their hands.