The jaat panchayat (caste council) operating from Kopargaon allegedly fined the family Rs 1 lakh, barred community members from speaking to them and even stopped the woman’s father from attending his cousin’s funeral. Nashik : A love marriage has allegedly left a family in Jalgaon socially outcast for nearly a year.
Despite their financial condition, the family members reportedly borrowed Rs 50,000 and paid half the fine.
Krishna Chandgude, state coordinator of Jaat Panchayat Muthmaati Abhiyan, an anti-caste outfit, said a woman from a village in Chalisgaon taluka married a man from her own community last year. The caste council then imposed a complete social boycott, Chandgude said. The family’s sufferings did not stop there as parents were also barred from meeting their married daughter. However, she did so without consulting the caste panchayat. The family lives in temporary tents and survives by selling needles and combs, door to door. When they could not pay the rest of the amount, they were allegedly assaulted. Community members were allegedly forbidden from speaking to the family or maintaining ties with it. The family was barred from weddings, celebrations and funerals. Those who defied the diktat risked being ostracised themselves. The woman’s parents were also allegedly forbidden from visiting their daughter. Unable to bear the harassment, the family approached Avinash Patil, former president of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (MANS). Chandgude and Kopargaon MANS president Dr Ashok Gavitre then accompanied the family to Kopargaon Rural police station. They submitted a written complaint seeking action under the Maharashtra Social Boycott (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act.