Aman Mehta at 20:58, 27 February 2026

2026-02-27T20:58:13Z

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{{Short description|Caste-specific juries in India}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2016}}
{{other uses|Panchayat (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}}
[[File:Panchayat India 1.jpg|thumb|A panchayat near [[Narsinghgarh, Rajgarh|Narsinghgarh]], Madhya Pradesh, India]]
'''Caste panchayats''', based on [[caste system in India]], are [[caste]]-specific [[juries]] of elders for villages or higher-level communities in [[India]].<ref>{{Cite news|title=Panchayats turn into kangaroo courts |date=9 September 2007 |author1=Mullick, Rohit |author2=Raaj, Neelam |newspaper=[[The Times of India]] |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Sunday_Specials/Panchayats_turn_into_kangaroo_courts/rssarticleshow/2351247.cms |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913045922/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Sunday_Specials/Panchayats_turn_into_kangaroo_courts/rssarticleshow/2351247.cms |archive-date=13 September 2016 |url-status=live |df=dmy }}</ref> They are distinct from [[gram panchayat]]s in that the latter, as statutory bodies, serve all villagers regardless of caste as a part of the Indian government, although they operate on the same principles. A [[Panchayati raj|panchayat]] could be permanent or temporary.<ref name="EB">{{cite web | url=http://www.britannica.com/topic/panchayat | title=Panchayat Indian caste government | publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. | access-date=22 March 2016 | archive-date=2 April 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402040725/http://www.britannica.com/topic/panchayat | url-status=live }}</ref>

The term ''panchayat'' implies a body of five ([[Sanskrit]]: ''panch'') individuals, although the number may vary in practice. The number is kept odd to ensure there is no tie when a decision is made. Panchayat members are appointed by consensus.<ref>[http://www.freepressjournal.in/justice-human-rights-and-premchands-panch-parmeshwar/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151020065110/http://www.freepressjournal.in/justice-human-rights-and-premchands-panch-parmeshwar/|date=20 October 2015}}
Justice, Human Rights and Premchand’s Panch Parmeshwar By CHARANJEET KAUR | 9 Dec 2012]</ref>

==History==
Panchayats, the council of five elders, had existed since [[Vedic period]] ({{Circa|1500|600 BCE}}) from the times of [[Ramayana]] and [[Mahabharata]]. [[Kautilya]] (Chanakya) also provides the 4th century BCE description of decentralised autonomous governing organisation for each village based on the council of five where the king ruled the empire based on the conglomeration of villages.<ref name=hist1/> The earliest mention in English of Panchayats was made by [[Ram Raz]] in a letter to H.S. Graeme of the Madras Council around 1828.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Ram Raz|year=1836|title=On the Introduction of Trial by Jury|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.283387/page/n256|journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society|pages=244–257}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bayly|first=C. A.|date=2007|title=Rammohan Roy and the advent of constitutional liberalism in India, 1800–30|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1479244306001028/type/journal_article|journal=Modern Intellectual History|language=en|volume=4|issue=1|pages=25–41|doi=10.1017/S1479244306001028|s2cid=145404296|issn=1479-2443|access-date=24 December 2019|archive-date=7 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207120226/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/modern-intellectual-history/article/abs/rammohan-roy-and-the-advent-of-constitutional-liberalism-in-india-180030/DB348DE6CDCCF8A6E9879B7D3F0F1D22|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Historical mentions<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wadia|first1=Sorab P. N.|title=The Institution of Trial by Jury in India|publisher=Printed at the Fort Print. Press|date=1897|page=[https://archive.org/details/institutiontria00wadigoog/page/n36 26]|url=https://archive.org/details/institutiontria00wadigoog|quote=panchayat.}}</ref> of panchayats include the [[Parsi]] Panchayat in 1818,<ref>[https://archive.org/details/rhetoricritualin0000hayn/page/78 ]
Rhetoric and Ritual in Colonial India: The Shaping of a Public Culture in Surat City, 1852-1928, Douglas E. Haynes, [[University of California Press]], 1991, p. 77-79]</ref> the [[Arora|Aror Bans]] Panchayat at [[Lahore]] in 1888,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=suJAAQAAMAAJ&q=panchayat&pg=PA8] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207120223/https://books.google.com/books?id=suJAAQAAMAAJ&q=panchayat&pg=PA8#v=onepage&q=panchayat&f=false|date=7 December 2023}}
Short Ethnographical History of Aror Bans [panchayat]: According to the Questions, Issue 2
Volume 756 of Tract (India Office Library) Virajananda Press, 1888]</ref> [[Dalit]] panchayats in 1907,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Crooke|first1=W|title=Natives of northern India.(Native races of the Brit. empire).|page=70|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DQUPAAAAQAAJ&dq=caste+panchayat&pg=PA1|year=1907|access-date=28 November 2021|archive-date=7 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207120223/https://books.google.com/books?id=DQUPAAAAQAAJ&dq=caste+panchayat&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q=caste%20panchayat&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> and the [[Agrawal Jain#Prachin Shri Agarwal Digambar Jain Panchayat|Prachin Agrawal Jain Panchayat]] of [[Delhi]], founded in the late 19th century, which runs Delhi's famous [[Sri Digambar Jain Lal Mandir|Bird Hospital]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=134328|title=A Jain hospital exclusively for birds|website=www.merinews.com|access-date=12 February 2019|archive-date=11 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211042801/http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=134328|url-status=live}}</ref> and some of its oldest temples.

== Caste panchayat versus Gram panchayat ==
There are different types of [[panchayats]].<ref name=hist1/>

[[Gram panchayat]] or sabha (village councils) were usually controlled by the elected members of panchayats for maintaining the social order and the resolution of criminal and civil disputes. There were also panchayats for resolving inter-caste conflicts. Gram panchayats were legally formalised under the [[panchayati raj]] system as a decentralised grassroot form of local governance.<ref name=hist1>Smita Mishra Panda, 2008, [https://books.google.com/books?id=2eGGAwAAQBAJ&dq=types+of+caste+panchayat&pg=PT120 Engendering Governance Institutions: State, Market and Civil Society] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207120223/https://books.google.com/books?id=2eGGAwAAQBAJ&dq=types+of+caste+panchayat&pg=PT120 |date=7 December 2023 }}, p119-.</ref>

''Caste panchayats'' (caste councils) have members of particular [[caste]]s who follow [[Caste system in India|caste-based social norms]], rules, religious values and settle conflict among its own members. Each caste, including upper castes and [[dalit]]s, had own caste panchayat. They repair wells, organise festivals, look after the sick of their castes. These caste panchayats existed as the form of [[Local government |local governance]] much before the gram panchayats came into being.<ref name=hist1/>

==Urban caste panchayat==
A 1992 study on twenty different low caste [[Telugu people|Telugu]] immigrant communities in [[Pune]], found evolution of caste panchayat of each community into three different types in their new urban setting:
* '''Fused caste panchayats''': those with characteristics similar to the traditional caste panchayats in villages.
* '''Transitional caste panchayats''': those where the characteristics of traditional village caste panchayats and modern organisations coexist.
* '''Differentiated caste panchayats''': those more adopted to the changing modern conditions with diminished traditional characteristics and modern organisational characteristics projected outside.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kumaran|first1=K.P.|title=Migration settlement and ethnic associations|date=1992|publisher=Concept Pub. Co.|location=New Delhi|isbn=9788170223900|pages=56–90|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gt9PQ-mjzRoC&pg=PA5|access-date=28 November 2021|archive-date=7 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207120223/https://books.google.com/books?id=gt9PQ-mjzRoC&pg=PA5#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Responsibilities ==
Traditionally, panchayats have adjudicated disputes involving caste members in open meetings. The issues brought before these bodies can include: managing temples and schools, property disputes, marital relations, and breaches of community rules (such as extravagant spending on weddings<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2014/dec/19/jain-panchayat-frames-regulations-to-check-lavish-weddings-695829.html|title=Jain Panchayat Frames Regulations to Check Lavish Weddings|website=The New Indian Express|access-date=12 February 2019|archive-date=17 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417124811/http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2014/dec/19/Jain-Panchayat-Frames-Regulations-to-Check-Lavish-Weddings-695829.html|url-status=live}}</ref> or the eating, drinking, or killing of certain animals, such as [[Cattle slaughter in India|cows]]). Penalties include monetary fines, offering a feast to the caste members or to [[Brahmin]]s, or temporary or permanent excommunication from the caste. Pilgrimage and self-humiliation are also occasionally imposed. Physical punishment was levied on occasion but is now uncommon.<ref name="EB" />

When the Evidence Act was passed in 1872,<ref name="EB" /> some caste members began to take their cases before civil or criminal courts rather than have them adjudicated by the caste panchayat.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9374468 Panchayat: Indian caste government (article 9374468)], Encyclopædia Britannica, about "caste panchayats"</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Randeria|first=Shalini|title=Civil society: Berlin perspectives, Chapter 9, "Entangled histories: Civil society, caste solidarities and legal pluralism in post-colonial India"|year=2006|publisher=Bergahn Books|isbn=184545-064-7|pages=213–226|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C4t-8cqE5FwC&pg=PA213|access-date=28 November 2021|archive-date=7 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207120223/https://books.google.com/books?id=C4t-8cqE5FwC&pg=PA213#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> Nevertheless, these bodies still exist and exert leadership roles within their respective groups.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kumar|first=Vijay|title=Scheduled caste panchayat pradhans in India: A study of western Uttar Pradesh|year=1989|publisher=Ajanta|isbn=8120202627|pages=183|url=http://www.getcited.org/pub/102853583|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130615045514/http://www.getcited.org/pub/102853583|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-06-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Dube|first=SC|title=India's Villages|year=1955|url=http://www.epw.in/system/files/pdf/1954_6/20/a_deccan_village.pdf|access-date=14 June 2013|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924015853/http://www.epw.in/system/files/pdf/1954_6/20/a_deccan_village.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Robert|first1=Hayden|title=A Note on Caste Panchayats and Government Courts in India : Different Kinds of Stages for Different Kinds of Performances|journal=[[The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law]]|date=1984|volume=16|issue=22|pages=43–52|url=http://commission-on-legal-pluralism.com/volumes/22/hayden-art.pdf |doi=10.1080/07329113.1984.10756282 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150607195539/http://commission-on-legal-pluralism.com/volumes/22/hayden-art.pdf |archive-date=7 June 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Khap==
{{main|Khap}}
A [[Khap]] is a clan, or a group of related clans, mainly among the [[Jat]]s of western [[Uttar Pradesh]], [[Haryana]], [[Rajasthan]], [[Gujarat]] and some parts of [[Madhya Pradesh]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/hindi/india/2009/08/090805_honourkill_expert_as.shtml|title=क्या है खाप पंचायत, क्यों है उसका दबदबा?|first1=अतुल संगर बीबीसी|last1=संवाददाता|last2=दिल्ली|website=BBC News हिंदी|access-date=12 February 2019|archive-date=21 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180721111509/https://www.bbc.com/hindi/india/2009/08/090805_honourkill_expert_as.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> The term has also been used in other communities.<ref>अब उतपति श्रावकनु के, षांप गोत की जेम | 
भई सु पोथिनु देषि करि, वरनन है कवि तेम ||६८२|| 
आगैं तो श्रावक सवै, एकमेक ही होत | 
लगे चलन विपरीति तव, थापे षांप अरु गोत ||६८३|| 
थपी वहैतरि षांप ऐ, गांम नगर के नांम | 
जैसैं पोथनु मैं लषी, सो वरनी अभिराम ||६८४|| Describes the 84 Jain communities, Buddhi-Vilas, Bakhtaram Sah, Samvat 1827, (1770 AD)</ref> A Khap panchayat is an assembly of Khap elders, and a Sarv Khap (literally, "all Khaps") meeting is an assembly of many Khaps.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Haryanas-biggest-khap-panchayat-scripts-history-allows-inter-caste-marriages/articleshow/34016585.cms|title=Haryana's biggest khap panchayat scripts history, allows inter-caste marriages - Times of India|website=The Times of India|access-date=12 February 2019|archive-date=13 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190213005524/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Haryanas-biggest-khap-panchayat-scripts-history-allows-inter-caste-marriages/articleshow/34016585.cms|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.epw.in/system/files/pdf/1965_17/51/the_jats_of_northern_indiatheir_traditional_political_systemii.pdf|title=The Jats of Northern India Their Traditional Political System—II, M C Pradhan, Economic and Political Weekly, 18 December 1965|access-date=8 September 2015|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924020156/http://www.epw.in/system/files/pdf/1965_17/51/the_jats_of_northern_indiatheir_traditional_political_systemii.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> A Khap panchayat is concerned with the affairs of the Khap it represents.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.samaylive.com/editorial/262627/khap-deleted-conditional-ban-on-interracial-marriages.html|title=खाप पंचायतों का हृदय परिवर्तन!|website=SamayLive|access-date=8 September 2015|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924094026/http://www.samaylive.com/editorial/262627/khap-deleted-conditional-ban-on-interracial-marriages.html|url-status=live}}</ref> It is not affiliated with the democratically elected local assemblies that are also termed panchayat, and has no official government recognition or authority, but it can exert significant social influence within a community.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kaur |first=Ravinder |url=https://www.academia.edu/671328 |title=Khap panchayats, sex ratio and female agency | Ravinder Kaur |publisher=Academia.edu |date=5 June 2010 |access-date=31 March 2013 |archive-date=25 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230625120110/https://www.academia.edu/671328 |url-status=live }}</ref> '''Baliyan Khap''', led by the late farmer's leader [[Mahendra Singh Tikait]], is a well-known Jat Khap.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/north/story/muzaffarnagar-riots-a-jat-family-protected-70-muslims-in-fugna-village-211011-2013-09-14|title=Muzaffarnagar riots: A Jat family protected 70 Muslims in Fugna village|date=September 14, 2013|website=India Today|access-date=12 February 2019|archive-date=12 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190212190404/https://www.indiatoday.in/india/north/story/muzaffarnagar-riots-a-jat-family-protected-70-muslims-in-fugna-village-211011-2013-09-14|url-status=live}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |chapter=Khap Panchayats in Haryana |first=K. S. |last=Sangwan |title=Challenging The Rules(s) of Law: Colonialism, Criminology and Human Rights in India |editor1-first=Kalpana |editor1-last=Kannabiran |editor2-first=Ranbir |editor2-last=Singh |publisher=SAGE |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-76193-665-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EaMGo6zqzNYC}}

[[Category:Law of India]]

Caste panchayat - Revision history

Aman Mehta at 20:58, 27 February 2026