In a landmark judgement in the country, Supreme Court has today ruled that the interference by khap panchayat to stop two adults from marrying each other is 'absolutely illegal'. As per reports, Supreme Court disposed off the petition filed by NGO, Shakti Vahini against khap panchayats & seeking directions to Centre and state governments for preventing honour killings. Supreme Court bench lead by CJI Misra has laid down remedial, preventive and punitive measures against interference of Khap Panchayats into marriages. It said rules will hold till a legislation is in place.

The Apex Court has further asked these Indian kangaroo courts to stop behaving like 'conscience keepers' of the society and any kind of interference by them in inter-caste and inter-faith marriages will not be tolerated and strict action will be taken against them. Justice Misra reportedly has also said that the court would step in, if the centre fails to take steps to stop such interference.

In a shocking incident last week, a woman in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr village, was mercilessly thrashed by her husband in public because village panchayat had ordered the beating of the woman because she was suspected of having an affair. The video of the incident went viral and post that the accused was arrested. Khap Panchayats are mostly found in Northern Indian and have emerged as quasi-judicial bodies that pronounce harsh punishments based on age-old customs and traditions, often adopting to regressive measures to solve the problems.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 27, 2018 12:52 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).