How Pipli women resisted coercive sterilisations

THE Emergency period in India, declared on June 25, 1975, unleashed a wave of authoritarian measures, including a coercive family planning programme that targeted vulnerable populations. In Pipli, a village in Haryana’s Sonepat district, the state’s aggressive sterilisation campaign led to widespread atrocities, culminating in a violent confrontation on December 2, 1976.

This article examines the horrors of the sterilisation drive, emphasising the pivotal role of women and khap panchayats in resisting these injustices, as documented by the Shah Commission of Inquiry, which investigated the excesses committed during the Emergency (1975-1977), including those related to family planning and sterilisations.

The family planning programme, launched in 1960-61, initially operated on a voluntary participation basis, but it turned coercive by 1976. While the Government of India set a sterilisation target of 74,300 for Haryana in 1975-76 and 52,000 in 1976-77, the state ambitiously doubled it to 2 lakh operations. Couples aged 15 to 44 with two or more children were deemed eligible for sterilisation and the state employed a mix of incentives and disincentives to enforce compliance.

In Haryana, 2,57,679 sterilisations were performed between June 1975 and December 1976. Its population was 10,036,803 (1971 Census). In 1976 alone, 82,58,904 operations were recorded nationwide, with the state contributing 2,32,334, including 4,985 in Gurgaon and 7,512 at the Nagina Primary Health Centre (PHC). The commission reported that in Pipli’s Kharkhoda block, 186 individuals were sterilised, including 104 under 40 years, 42 aged 41-50, 27 aged 51-60, 12 aged 61-70, and four over 70. Shockingly, seven unmarried individuals and two with one child and one childless person were also sterilised, with four deaths resulting from post-operative complications.

The state’s coercive measures included denying government employees benefits like travel allowance, medical reimbursement, promotion and loan unless they or their spouses underwent sterilisation. Non-compliance led to punitive actions, such as 20 per cent penal rent on accommodation or dismissal from service. A column was added to Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs) to evaluate employees based on sterilisation targets, institutionalising coercion.

For the public, incentives like Rs 50 for Scheduled Castes and Backward Castes (BC) were offered, while the disincentives included denial of arms licences or government jobs to those with more than two children unless sterilised.

The campaign was marked by egregious human rights violations. In Pipli, the Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDP&O), Mahender Singh, was tasked with achieving 500 sterilisations. On October 29, 1976, he forced Hawa Singh, a bachelor, to undergo sterilisation. It led to his death from sepsis on November 29. On November 30, Sardara, who had one ailing child, was beaten and sterilised despite his pleas. These incidents fuelled resentment.

Across Haryana, similar horrors unfolded. On November 6, 1976, 700 armed policemen raided Uttawar village (Gurgaon), forcibly sterilising 180 individuals, including 70-year-old Chahat. In Nagina, on September 28, 1976, a mob of 1,500 Meo Muslims protested, resulting in injuries to officials and two deaths from police firing.

The Shah Commission documented 132 complaints of deaths due to infections from negligent sterilisations, with the unmarried and elderly individuals targeted. 200 people were arrested under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA), two under COFEPOSA and 1,079 under the Defence of Internal Security of India Rules, often without justification.

The bureaucracy’s complicity was evident. Sonepat Deputy Commissioner RS Malik, appointed in November 1976, zealously enforced the programme, leading to a “mad race" among officials in Kharkhoda. Bus passengers, rail travellers, cinema-goers and passersby were forcibly taken for sterilisation. Villagers spent nights in fields to evade the authorities, living in fear. The commission noted that administrators ignored public resentment, treating citizens “as cattle" and employing verbal orders to bypass legal protocols, undermining rule of law.

Women in Pipli emerged as formidable defenders of their community’s rights, challenging the patriarchal and administrative oppression. On December 1, 1976, when the BDP&O visited its Harijan colony, the women confronted him. When he used abusive language and threatened to raze the village, they physically resisted, striking him with a jelly and forcing him to retreat. This act of defiance, unprecedented in Haryana’s patriarchal context, underscored their resolve as they declared that they had “not worn bangles", a local idiom rejecting weakness.

On December 2, when the police arrived, the women led the resistance. After men aged 12-50 fled the village, women protected those detained at the chaupal‘s milk dairy. They clashed with the police, who beat and dragged villagers into a bus for sterilisation. Police firing killed Chanderpati, a BC woman, and Jagmohan from Gopalpur, with Rattan Singh injured.

Khap panchayats, traditional community councils, also played a critical role in mobilising resistance. The Dahiya khap, led by Captain Jai Lal of Sisana, coordinated with 29 other khaps, including Hooda, Dalal, Malik and Sangwan, to support Pipli. Advocates Nafe Singh Dahiya, Nawal Singh and Shadi Lal rallied the community, transcending caste and political divides. The khaps’ influence was evident in the gathering of over

1 lakh people on December 2.

Their involvement was revolutionary, challenging the notion of khaps as ‘kangaroo courts’. Leaders like Rizak Ram, an MLA, with Dahiya khap support, negotiated a settlement, urging villagers to avoid violence and hand over the bodies of the deceased for post-mortem. Nafe Singh Dahiya proposed taking the bodies to the PM’s residence to expose the atrocities, but this plan was thwarted.

The khaps’ unity with village panchayats, Arya Samaj and political figures like MP Sultan Singh demonstrated a broad-based coalition against state oppression. But, despite a compromise on December 4, 1976, promising no arrests, the administration reneged, detaining Nafe Singh and 21 others. The DC’s threat on December 20 to burn the village forced some to flee or comply with sterilisation. The Shah Commission criticised the bureaucracy’s “committed" nature, noting that senior officials, driven by self-preservation, ignored public sentiment to please superiors. It highlighted the absence of written orders, with verbal directives enabling arbitrary actions.

The Emergency’s end in March 1977 and the Janata Party’s electoral victory, supported by leaders like Devi Lal and Charan Singh, led to the withdrawal of the cases.

The Pipli incident remains a reminder of the dangers of unchecked administrative power. The courage of the women and khaps’ mobilisation showed the power of community resistance in defending dignity against state tyranny. The 50th anniversary of the Emergency and Pipli’s legacy call for a commitment to accountable governance and protection of rights.

Rajkumar Siwach is Professor, Chaudhary Devi Lal University, Sirsa.

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