Caste Councils (Jati Panchayats / Caste Panchayat) System in India

A Caste Council or Jati Panchayat is one of the formally organized units in the Indian society. The key objective of Caste Council is to maintain unity of the caste and this secure uniformity of the rules.

Origin of the Caste Councils

There is no precise answer to how and when the caste councils came into existing. However, there is a general agreement that these were created only after settled village life became possible. Since each village is composed of more than one caste, each caste has been following the norms, rules and behaviour pattern vastly different from other castes. The source of these norms and rules are the cultural scriptures and ethnic / cultural callings maintained by the Caste Councils.

Organization

In northern India, the caste council is generally composed of five elder members of the renowned families, persons of acknowledged qualities of leadership, wealthy and capable of impartial judgement. These five people are called Panchas. Head of the caste council is called Mukhiya or Pradhan.

Meetings

Theoretically, the meeting of Caste Council can be summoned whenever there is a breach of the caste rules and such breach is brought to the notice of the caste council. Some of the major offenses which the Caste Council takes cognisance are as follows:

• Breach of the caste rules
• Failure to fulfil marriage agreements or conditions
• Marriage that violates the caste norms and rules
• Divorce without mutual consent
• Elopement of one member of caste with members of other caste
• Breaches of rules of endogamy and exogamy
• Dispute between in-laws
• Inter-dining with those who are outcaste
• Refusing to pay community subscription

Apart from the above, there are many petty offences which are brought into cognisance of the caste councils.

Punishment of Offense

The nature of punishment depends on nature of the offense and perpetrator is generally asked for either apology or some other kind of punishment. The highest punishment given to accused is “excommunication”. Jurisdiction of the caste council may be limited to one village or may be extending to a cluster of villages such as four, eight, sixteen, twenty-four, thirty six and so on. In older times, the area of influence of caste panchayats extended to 84 villages.

Impacts of Modern Times on Caste Panchayats

For centuries, the caste councils have worked effectively as judicial-cum-social institutions with mandatory sanctions issue writs over its members. In fact the writ or order of Caste Council ran supreme in all spheres of life of its members. However, with changing times, the effectiveness of these bodies has waned. Neither these bodies nor their verdicts are legally recognized by modern courts of law. The reasons ascribed to their gradual disappearance include – change in circumstances; improved mobility and interaction among people; establishment of statutory courts; introduction of secular village panchayats with legal as well as constitutional backing; modern laws banning the evil practices; government support / protection to inter-caste marriages; stringent government action over honour killings; abolition of untouchability; no legal sanction on “excommunication” etc. Nevertheless, these developments have been hardly able to undermine some of the panchayats such as Khaps in northern India. In villages, still people are fearful of excommunication.