CPM leader Brinda Karat consoles Noida resident Barpai Jatav whose son Sanjay eloped with a Brahmin girl on Thursday. (PTI)

New Delhi, July 8: P. Chidambaram today faced stiff opposition from cabinet colleagues for suggesting that stringent laws be brought to deter panchayat councils from running kangaroo courts and murder be redefined under the Indian Penal Code to include “honour killings”.

The Union home minister also proposed amending the Indian Evidence Act to put the onus of proving innocence on the khap panchayats whose extra-legal verdicts sometimes result in honour killings.

The sharp division in the cabinet prompted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to set up a group of ministers (GoM) on the issue. All state governments have been asked to furnish their response to the cabinet subcommittee.

At least six cabinet members, led by Kapil Sibal, attacked Chidambaram for suggesting that IPC Section 300 be amended to make all khap panchayat members liable to be sentenced to death or life if their verdicts result in honour killings.

An honour killing is the murder of a person accused of “bringing shame” on his/her family by refusing to enter into a marriage, committing adultery or being in a relationship disapproved by the family.

Of late, many women in Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh have been the victims of such honour killings by their own families. This has caused outrage and prompted the cabinet to look for fresh ways to tackle the matter.

Sibal today opposed Chidambaram when he proposed that murder should be redefined to include death caused by persons “acting in concert with or at the behest of a member of the family or a member of a group or clan or caste panchayat in the belief that the victim has brought dishonour upon them”. Sibal asked why the home minister was seeking a fresh definition when murder in all forms and manner was considered murder.

Chidambaram cited the example of Sati to insist a fresh definition was required to include honour killings. But Union sports and youth minister M.S. Gill objected, saying such “sweeping provisions” could be used for “witch-hunting”.

Gill said the proposed amendment would allow police to act against a large section of community leaders and all members of khap panchayats if they took any action against persons perceived to have brought dishonour on a clan or caste panchayat.

Union surface transport minister Kamal Nath, social justice minister Mukul Wasnik and some others expressed apprehension, saying the khap issue was a sensitive one and a part of the deep social, religious sentiments and folk culture. Along with human resource development minister Sibal, Gill and Pawan Bansal, they sought wider consultation on the issue.

Chidambaram, however, found support in Union information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni. She is said to have insisted that along with a new law, social awareness must be created to root out the problem.

The Union cabinet is also believed to have discussed reforms in the marriage Act. The government apparently plans to do away with the mandatory 30-day notice required for registering marriages.

Sources said there were strong views on the Centre’s decision to send the army to Kashmir. But the Union ministers did not make much noise after it was pointed out that the cabinet committee on security had given the go-ahead.