A Khap is a community organisation representing a clan or a group of North Indian castes or clans. They are found mostly in northern India, particularly among the Village people of Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh (Jats, Gujjars), but also amongst states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh although historically the term has also been used among other communities. A Khap Panchayat is an assembly of Khap elders, and a Sarv Khap is an assembly of many Khap Panchayats.
Khaps are not affiliated with the formally elected government bodies and are instead concerned with the affairs of the Khap it represents. It is not affiliated with the democratically elected local assemblies that are also termed Panchayat. A Khap Panchayat has no official government recognition or authority but can exert significant social influence within the community it represents. The Baliyan Khap of Jats as led by Mahendra Singh Tikait until 2011 is one that has gained particular media attention. Dahiya Khap is major khap of Jat community in Haryana.
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 .
Dahiya Khap is one of the oldest leading Khap of Jats.
These Khaps are found from Northwest India down to Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh, Malwa, Rajasthan, Sindh, Multan, Punjab, Hnortheasternar and Uttar Pradesh.
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. The Jats were originally pastoral, but settled down and became agricultural.
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 Harsha systematized the sarv–khap panchayat in the 7th century at Prayag (modern Allahabad) during his quinquennial assemblage.
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 blamed the eating of chow mein, a non-traditional food, for the rise in rape in India, while another suggested that the age of marriage should be dropped from 18 to 16 because being married would make young women less susceptible to rape.
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 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.
Due to cultural restrictions around marriage and the skewed sex ratio, families may have difficulty finding suitable brides and occasionally go against gotra marriage prohibitions. There are also cases of men in Haryana who marry lower caste brides without having a khap panchayat be called.