When two adults have mutual consent others cannot interfere.

• Two adults are free to marry and “no third party” has a right to harass or cause harm to them, said Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, speaking against honour killings.
• The Judgement said “When two people get into wedlock, no one should interfere. Neither parents, society, khap or panchayat… no one at all,” said Chief Justice Misra, leading a three-judge Bench that upheld the fundamental right of two people who wish to marry and live peacefully.

What did the counsel tell?

• The counsel said such panchayats were age-old traditions and they did encourage inter-caste marriages now.
• He argued that the objection of khaps to marriages between people from the same gotra was upheld in Section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955.
• The Section said, “Sapinda should be removed by five degrees from the father’s side and by three degrees from the mother’s side.”
• Marriage within the same gotra led to genetic deformity in children, the counsel argued.

Context

• The court was hearing a petition filed by Shakti Vahini, an NGO, to make honour killing a specific crime.