Paper short abstract:

Based on recent case studies of 'honour killings' in Haryana,a state in Northern India the paper analyses how the institution of caste/khap panchayat—an extra-judicial body with an ancient and medieval legacy negotiates with the statutory legal system in contemporary India

Paper long abstract:

Based on recent case studies of 'honour killings' in Haryana,a state in Northern India the paper analyses how the institution of caste/khap panchayat—an extra-judicial body with an ancient and medieval legacy negotiates with the statutory legal system in contemporary India These institutions not only confront and defy the formal legal system in recent times but also enjoy legitimacy within the community that it represents.

The study argues that the involvement of Khap Panchayats,the community courts run by caste groups in many parts of India is an excellent example to highlight the way in which a institutions based on tradition are used in modern political purposes. In doing so it raises larger questions on how a rights-based discourse of modern nation-states forms a complex terrain where citizenship of the state and membership of communities are negotiated and contested through the unfolding of complex legal practices. It emphasizes that there exists a complex interaction between tradition and modernity where the governance of polities (state statutory governance bodies) and governance of communities (caste panchayats) are in continuous tension.