The khap panchayat that murdered Radhika Yadav consisted of one man: her father. No village elders were present, no consensus was called for, and no formal diktat was issued. For the crime of being too independent, too financially secure, the sentence was delivered while she prepared breakfast. In declaring victory over the khap panchayat, we misunderstood the power structure. The real machinery of ‘honour killings’ never needed a banyan tree. Watch ThePrint Columnist Karanjeet Kaur explain:
Radhika Yadav’s murder proves the khap panchayat never left, it just moved back into the family
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