People will stop having girl child: Khap leader on SC ruling

Adopting a defiant posture, a senior 'Khap' (community panchayat) leader said on Thursday that the Supreme Court ruling on the right of the two adults to choose their partners is an ''interference'' in their age-old traditions and was also not in the interest of the girls.

In an informal chat with the reporters, Tikait said that people would also not want daughters as they would not have any say in their (girls) marriage. ''The population of the girls will decline,'' he added.

''We spend a lot of money on the education of our daughters...we will also find a match for them....they can not be allowed to choose their partner,'' leader of the powerful 'Baliyan' khap Naresh Tikait said in Shamli.

He also said that the people would not allow their daughters to study fearing that they could defy them and choose their partners by own.

The khaps, which are very powerful in Uttar Pradesh, especially in the 'Jat' dominated western region, have made it clear they will not allow love marriages and marriages in same 'gotra' (clan). In the past, many girls have been killed for the sake of family honour after they decided to do love marriage.

The apex court had recently said that khaps did not have any right to prevent two adults from choosing their life partners.