A Khap is a traditional community organization representing a clan or group of villages. They are mainly associated with Indian communities such as the Jats, Modern khaps are mainly found in the states of Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh, and are especially common in these Jat-dominated villages. Khaps also exist in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. A Khap Panchayat is an assembly of Khap elders, while a Sarv Khap is an assembly of many Khap Panchayats. These bodies are not part of the formal government system and hold no official authority. However, they often exert significant social influence and handle affairs within the community they represent. Notable khaps include the Baliyan Khap, led by the famous farmer's rights activist Mahendra Singh Tikait until 2011, the Dahiya Khap in Haryana, and the Gathwala Khap who were zamindars since Mughal era and took title of Malik.
History The Khaps evolved as tribal and village administrations. One of the terms used to denote the republic was the Khap. Others were Pal, Janapada, and Gaṇasaṅgha. Khaps have been dated back to the 14th or 15th century, as part of the social structure of the Hindu people, who lived in the region that is now north eastern Rajasthan, eastern Haryana, and Western Uttar Pradesh. There are historical documentational evidences that reveal the organization of Meerut division's khaps into the sarvkhap panchayat as far back as the 13th century. Haryana Sarwakhap Panchayat was established in 664 A.D. There is also a native belief that claims that King Harshavardhan systematized the sarv–khap panchayat in the 7th century at Prayag (modern Prayagraj) during his quinquennial assemblage. These Khaps enabled clans to organize and expand their influence. The Baliyan Khap established its headquarters in Sisuali village in the 12th century, from where the clan launched campaigns of "territorial expansion, conquest and colonization" until the first decades of the 16th century. By the late 16th century, various clan members ruled the 84 villages of Pargana Sisuali. During the reign of Mughal emperor Akbar, certain Khaps (including the Baliyan Khap) would be granted internal autonomy in exchange for their support of the new revenue system.
"...Akbar made several concessions to the local clans of the upper Doab region... The [Khap] councils were to carry on as before without interference. Imposts that the Jats had resisted for centuries were to be waived. In return, however, the clan councils accepted the new revenue system... They asked for local agency in collection, but did not quarrel with its implementation. In this region at least, imperiwal policy relied both upon force and conciliation." During British colonial rule, influential Khap members were chosen as officials for their local areas.
Structure The Khap consisted of a unit of 84 villages. The individual villages were governed by an elected council, known as the panchayat. A unit of seven villages was called a Thamba and 12 Thambas formed the Khap unit of 84 villages, though Khaps of 12 and 24 villages existed. Their elected leaders would determine which units would be represented at the Khap level. The Sarv Khap (or All Khap) Panchayat (Council) represented all the Khaps. The individual Khaps would elect leaders who would send delegates to represent their Khaps at the Sarv Khap. It was a political organisation, composed of all the clans, communities, and castes in the region.
Members of khap panchayats are all male, though they often make decisions affecting women. In Haryana, women are not allowed to be present at a panchayat and are represented by their male relatives. Members of Sarva Jaateeya Venain Khap, one of the largest khap panchayats in Haryana, have instead said there are no female khap members because they feel uncomfortable attending, not because they are not allowed.
Decisions on social issues The Khap Panchayats frequently make pronouncements on social issues, such as abortion, alcohol abuse, dowry, and to promote education, specially among girls. In October 2012, one Khap Panchayat leader in Haryana suggested that the age of marriage should be dropped from 18 to 16. Khaps have attracted attention in recent times for their decisions on marriage. Khaps have opposed marriages between members of different castes, of certain gotras from which intermarriage is prohibited, and of the same village. In July 2000, a panchayat nullified the marriage of Ashish and Darshana, two years after they had married and produced a son, on the basis that they were from two gotras (clans) prohibited to marry, and should have a brother-sister relationship. Punishments handed down by khap panchayats in marriage cases include fines, social ostracism, public humiliation, and expulsion from the village. Khap Panchayats are a "useful instrument" of society and carry out social reforms and "one or two mistakes don't make them wrong as a whole," said Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in an interview. Naresh Tikait, head of Baliyan Khap, criticized love marriages, saying "Marriage is a union of two consenting families and not just two individuals. So all stakeholders should have a say in that. If parents take all the pains to educate their girls then they also have right over their marriages too."
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