Meerut: A day after the

adopted a tough line against khaps that show extreme intolerance towards inter-caste and interfaith marriages,

leaders have given a veiled threat to “destabilize society by not giving birth to girls at all” if the apex court meddles in their age-old traditions.

Speaking with TOI, Naresh Tikait, head of Balyan Khap, said, “We respect the Supreme Court but cannot tolerate the apex court’s interference in our age-old traditions. If these kinds of orders are passed by the

, we will stop producing girls or won’t let them study so much that they start taking their own decisions. Just think, what will happen to society if girls become lesser and lesser in numbers?”

On Monday, a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Mishra said in response to a plea that sought ban on khap panchayat in the wake of growing incidents of honour killing owing to same gotra, inter-caste or interfaith marriages, that “the law prohibits or allows a particular marriage, the law will take its own course”. “No one, either individually or collectively, has the right to interfere in a marriage between two consenting adults,” the court said.

The bench sternly told khap panchayats not to assume the role of conscience keepers of society and said courts would go by the law and not tradition and 'gotra' considerations to determine the legality of a marriage.

Venting out his anger, Rajbir

, head of Malik Khap, said, “Maybe, the SC has taken this stand influenced by the vulgar exhibition of modernity in cosmopolitan cities, but they must understand that village life is different and we are bound by our traditions.”

“We spend so much money on the education of girl child and once grown up, she does what she wants disregarding elders of the community, which cannot be tolerated. It is these traditions that have kept balance in society,” he said.

Punia, national general secretary of powerful

, said, “We are opposed to the same-gotra marriages. We abide by the laws of the land and everything cannot be wrong about khap.”

Chaudhary Surender Singh, head of influential Tomar Khap, said, “It is a matter of values and principles that we inculcate in our children. What has courts to do with this? Unki kaun sunta hai?”