Tikait threatens Parliament's Gherao

Muzaffarnagar (Uttar Pradesh), May 23 (ANI): Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Mahender Singh Tikait on Sunday warned that members of Khap Panchayats or, the caste councils will stage a gherao (or,encirclement) of the Parliament if the government failed to put a ban on marriages within the same Gotra or, sub-caste.

Leaders at a village council meet in Jind city of Haryana will take a decision on the future strategy in this regard, Tikait, who is also the head of Balian 'khap' (caste council) added.

Speaking to media persons at Bhartiya Kisan Union headquarters at Sisauli, Tikait said: "We cannot tolerate such marriages. If the Central government fails to bring a legislation to ban such marriages, there will be no option but to take recourse to gherao of Parliament to press for the demand."arlier, a group of Khap Panchayats had demanded an amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act by prohibiting marriages within the same 'gotra' (sub-caste).

Several village councils turned an agitated lot after a court in Karnal in a recent incident awarded death sentence to five persons for killing a young couple Manoj and Babli after they married despite being of the same gotra following the diktat of a khap panchayat. (ANI)