Khap Panchayat objects to IFS Neelam Sharma's inter-caste marriage with an IAS

2009 batch IFS officers with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

INDIAN Foreign Service officer Neelam Sharma’s decision to marry her batch-mate (2009 batch) and Gujarat cadre IAS Kuldeep Arya would have been counted as one of many such babu marriages over decades. Currently posted in Moscow, Neelam Sharma is a perfect match for young and dynamic Gujarat cadre IAS Arya. Both are young icons from the North Indian state of Haryana. They fell in love and decided to marry.

But the Khap Panchayat of Neelam’s village in Haryana’s Bhiwani district does not find it a perfect match. The Panchayat of Patharwali village has questioned the IFS officer, a Brahmin, to dare to fall in love with a man from another caste. According to reports, there are tensions around the marriage after the Khap Panchayat expressed its reservations on the inter-caste marriage. A section of media quoted the Bhiwani Superintendent of Police Ashwin as saying that the police was keeping a close vigil and the situation was normal. The Superintendent of Police has however deputed men in uniform as well as those in plain clothes to avoid any confrontations. Significantly, Ashwin’s wife is an IAS officer of the same batch of Neelam and Kuldeep Arya.

Meanwhile, a large number of social organizations in the state and outside have given their support to Neelam’s decision to marry her sweetheart despite he belongs to another caste.

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Recent Orders on Babu Marriage

a) The Central government has transferred Srivatsa Krishna, a 1994 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS and Ms Gunjan Krishna, a 2004 batch Maharashtra cadre IAS from their respective cadres to Karnataka cadre on the ground of marriage.

b) The Central government has transferred Rajan Vishal, a 2008 batch Manipur-Tripura cadre IAS and Ms Archana Singh, a 2008 batch Gujarat cadre IAS from their respective cadres to Rajasthan cadre on the ground of marriage.

c) The government has transferred Ms Sharandeep Kaur Brar, a 2009 batch Rajasthan cadre IAS from Rajasthan to Haryana cadre on ground of marriage to Ashwin, a 2006 batch IPS officer.