No khap panchayat can assault couples with inter-caste marriage: SC

New Delhi : The Supreme Court has termed any kind of attack by Khap Panchayat on inter-caste married couple as "absolutely illegal".

"If an adult man and woman marry, no khap, panchayat or society can question them," SC bench headed by CJI Dipak Misra said on Tuesday.

The Supreme Court also said that if Centre does not step in to ban such Panchayat's then the apex court will take its call on the matter.

Khaps, community organisations representing a clan or a group of related clans, frequently make pronouncements on social issues and have often landed in controversies owing to their diktats.

In one of such instances, a Khap Panchayat had blamed chowmein for the rise of rape cases in the country.

“To my understanding, consumption of fast food contributes to such incidents. Chowmein leads to hormonal imbalance evoking an urge to indulge in such acts,” Jitender Chhatar, a resident of Jind’s Chhatar village and khap panchayat leader, was quoted as saying.

Another suggested that the age of marriage should be dropped from 18 to 16 because being married would make young women less susceptible to rape.