Haryana family moves court against caste council

Forced to leave their village in Haryana for marrying their son Ravinder Singh Gehlout to a girl from the same clan, his family Wednesday approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court to seek police protection, a lawyer said.

"We have filed a writ in the high court seeking police protection for the Gehlout family and immediate action against the accused. It is a simple case of police laxity as, despite filing three FIRs, no arrest has been made so far," Ravinder Singh Malik, counsel of the family, told IANS Wednesday.

Gehlout's family had to leave its native village Dharana in Jhajjar district, Haryana, on Tuesday in the wake of mounting pressure of the village's khap (caste panchayat) members.

Regardless of heavy deployment of police force in the village and assurances from the administration, khap members refused to budge from their stand and mounted pressure on the family to leave the village.

Narinder Singh, Gehlout's brother, told IANS: "Everyone knows who the guilty are, but they are moving fearlessly in the village. They are a threat for our family."

The Gehlouts were asked to leave Dharana village by Sunday morning after Ravinder married a 20-year-old girl from the Kadiyan clan, around four months ago.

One of the khap councils, notorious for their vicious campaign against couples getting married within the same clan, had accused Ravinder of violating an ageold custom according to which marriages between the Gehlouts and Kadiyans is a taboo as they have a "brotherhood" akin to consanguinity.

Saurabh Singh, senior superintendent of police of Jhajjar, told IANS: "We are trying our best to keep the situation under control. There should be no doubt on our work as our men are deployed here all through day and night."

Last updated on Jul 22^nd, 2009 at 18:32 pm IST--IANS