Thaindian News

Jhajjar (Haryana), July 21 (IANS) The family of 23-year-old Ravinder Gehlawat Tuesday left their native village in Haryana after khap (caste panchayat) members forced them out over his same clan marriage.
But the Jhajjar district administration said the family had gone to visit their relatives and would soon return home.

The Gehlawats were asked to leave Dhrana village by Sunday morning after Ravinder married a 20-year-old girl from the Kadiyan clan.

One of the khap councils, notorious for their vicious campaign against couples getting married within the same clan, had accused him of violating a custom of no marriage between the sects of Gehlawat and Kadiyan as they have a “brotherhood” akin to consanguinity.

“The family boarded a vehicle in the evening for the neighbouring Jugana village. However, the administration has assured us that they will resolve the issue by tomorrow (Wednesday),” Naseeb Singh, a relative, told IANS,

Jhajjar Deputy Commissioner Saket Kumar said they had gone to some other village to meet their relatives.

“They have not disposed off their property and have not left this place permanently,” Kumar told IANS.

But tension prevailed in the village Tuesday, two days after rampaging khap members clashed with policemen who stopped them from evicting Gehlawat and his family.

“We held a flag-march in the village,” Kumar said.

Saurabh Singh, district police chief, said: “There was no violent incident in the village.”