Village council heads meet to register support for honour killing

Lucknow, Sep. 14 (ANI): Representatives of various village councils from Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi met to express their support for the traditional honour killing of couples who marry in the same gotra (clan).

These councils known as 'Khap councils' are notorious for their vicious campaign against couples getting married within the same clan.

"Village councils are doing the right thing. They should be killed. There is no other solution to it. If they go for love marriage in the same clan then real brother and sister should also marry. Why should parents look for grooms and bridegrooms for their children," said Mahendra Singh Tikait, head of Baliyan village council, Uttar Pradesh.

The meeting comes nearly two months after a man was killed for marrying a girl in the same clan in Dhrana village of northern Haryana.

Village councils in Haryana are notorious for issuing diktats against couples who marry within the same clan.

Caste system runs deep in the rural areas where people are still bound to the ancient principles and practices.

There are many incidents where same clan marriages have been opposed and couples subjected to humiliation and even killed by the angry villagers. (ANI)