Rajasthan Khap Panchayat allegedly forces man, woman to bathe publicly to ‘wash off sins’

A Khap panchayat, an unelected council of village elders, recently penalised a man and woman from the Sansi Community in Rajasthan’s Sikar district by making them bathe publicly to wash their alleged ‘sins’.

The nephew and aunt who were allegedly involved in an ‘illicit’ relationship, were asked to deposit Rs 31,000 and Rs 22,000 respectively by the Khap panchayat as a penalty before they were allowed to return to the social fold.

On Tuesday, Sansi Samaj members submitted a memorandum to the Superintendent of Police, demanding stringent action against the khap panchayat. They said that the guilty should be put behind bars, the amount collected by the woman given back to her and those who gathered at the site booked for flouting social distancing norms.

Sikar SP Gagandeep Singla, meanwhile, told IANS that a probe is underway and the team is recording villagers’ statements. “Also, we are trying to get videos or pictures of the incident,” he added.

The incident was reported on August 21 and as per the Khap panchayat, the man and woman were asked to wash off their sins by bathing in a public place. Hundreds of villagers gathered to look at the so-called punishment. A few onlookers even took pictures and made videos of the incident, but nobody came forward to help them.

Khap Panchayat majorly comprise male members of a village and are mostly upper caste or community groups.