On Haryana CM’s Observations

COMMUNICATION

Haryana Chief Minister M.L. Khattar has stated [<http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/...> ;India Today; “Khaps have better sense of social justice than courts: Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar†; IndiaToday.in, New Delhi, December 6, 2014] that Khap Panchayats have a better sense of justice than the courts do. He also avers that “It has been scientifically proven that marrying within the gotra is not right†.

In the first statement, he makes a grave charge against the judiciary, which, one hopes, will attract censure from the learned bretheren in robes, if they have the stomach for it. As for the second, he only reflects a widely misunderstood meaning of science and what can be “scientific†. That is, that while science cannot and does not determine what is “right†or “wrong†, it can in many cases determine what is “true†or “false†.

S.G. Vombatkere
Mysuru-570017