When a reporter asked that if he was trying to justify such killings by saying they happen everywhere, Hooda replied, "No, don't misquote me, I said nobody is allowed to take law in his own hands, whoever does will be booked. I am saying that it is a sin...but it is committed either by parents of the girl or a boy, not by the khap."
Asked about the opposition of khaps to the same 'gotra' marriages, Hooda said there are "some customs prevalent in the society".
"Tell me one thing, how many of you marry within the gotra. I am asking do you marry within your gotra," he asked.
"There are some customs prevalent here (in Haryana) that we don't marry within the same Gotra, at some places they do. If you go to south India, at some places, people marry one's niece. Can anyone of you do this here, it is not custom here, but it is in south India and Andhra," the chief minister said when asked about the stand of his party on the issue.
However, Hooda said that khaps don't have any legal standing. "They don't have any legal status, they have a social status."
He also dismissed as baseless the charge that he was appeasing the khaps for seeking votes and gaining political mileage.
"I don't do politics of khap or caste, I seek votes based on Congress' policies, that's all, but at the same time I am part of a society...Maybe, after becoming journalist (referring to the journalist who asked the question) you consider yourself as being outside the society".
Hooda trashed media reports that he had written a letter to the President on the issue of khaps, saying that it is just a case of media hype. "I have never written any such letter to the President, give me a copy."
