Chancellor and Founder of OP Jindal Global Law School, Congress Member of Parliament from the Kurukshetra district from Haryana, Naveen Jindal, supported the demand of Khap Panchayat leaders asking for an amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act, banning marriages between members belonging to the same sub-caste (gotra).

Khap Panchayats are informal caste-based village councils prevalent in parts of Western India including Haryana, Punjab and parts of Rajasthan. These panchayats are unconstitutional and have no legal sanction but enjoy immense popularity with the rural community due to their quick turnaround time in dispensing “justice”.

Jindal, also the Vice President and Managing Director of the Jindal Steel & Power Limited and the Congress Party’s blue-eyed-boy is seen as a progressive thinker. He fought the government for 8 years and took the battle to the Supreme Court for the citizen’s right to hoist the Indian flag at homes and institutions. Senior Advocates Shanti Bhushan, Arun Jaitley, Harish Salve, K.K. Venugopal and Soli Sorabjee had advised Jindal.

Jindal is also seen as a promoter of several public and private partnerships and holds several senior positions in trade bodies including the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. His statement on Monday assuring Khap Panchayat leaders, that he will take their demand of amending the Hindu Marriage Act with the Government is seen as an unwelcome surprise by many including members of his own party.

Khap Panchayats, which have been in existence since the times of Ashoka, work as an informal justice system. They have been widely criticized for handing out sentences which include honour killings to couples who choose to marry within members of the same village or within the same sub-caste. This is seen as an affront to a rigid and archaic honour system widely followed in rural areas.

Jindal, in his statement to the media today, defended his stand that as an MP his duties include airing opposing views to the government. Speaking to media he said today “I am opposed to honour killings. I told them not to take the law in their hands. I am with them so long as they are within the ambit of the law.”

The Congress Party was quick to react to these statements of Naveen Jindal with Senior Advocate and spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi saying, “Individual persons or MPs may have their own opinion. That does not mean there is a change in the stance of the Congress.”

The Haryana High Court in a landmark judgment last month had awarded capital punishment to five persons for murdering a couple  for marrying against societal norms. Naveen’s comments come to many as a surprise, especially considering the public outrage that surrounds the image of the Khap Panchayats.

The OP Jindal Global Law School, which boasts of an international faculty and has plans on introducing the Law School Admission Test system has been aggressively marketing itself as the pioneer in changing the face of the Indian legal education system.