Panchayat asks man to let wife be raped to repay loan

A jat (caste) panchayat in rural Maharashtra had allegedly asked a villager to allow members of the panchayat to rape his wife if he is unable to repay the loan taken from the panchayat. Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti had come out in support of the complainant couple. However, there is no official complaint filed in the case with any police station.

Later on Wednesday evening, the Gondhali jat panchayat apologised to the family and asked them to return to the village. Panch member Sham Ugale told The Asian Age, “It was a lack of communication or misunderstanding between us. We are all united and wish to live in peace. They will not be harassed and everything has been settled.”

The incident came to light after the couple, Deepak and Soni Bhore, moved to Nashik from their hometown in Parbhani, where they faced threats from the local caste panchayat of the Gondhali community.

According to the complainants, the panchayat asked Deepak to pay them '5 lakh or send his wife to them for sex. This incident took place in the Parbhani district and the outraged couple has left their home to live with relatives in Nashik.

No cases have been registered yet, but the Subhash Ugale, Soni’s father, who gave the couple shelter, also claimed that he had been warned with ostracisation (expulsion from the community).

According to Mr Ugale, the couple had taken a loan of '90,000 from the jat panchayat in Selu town of the Parbhani district. After paying three times the amount as interest, the couple was ordered to pay '5 lakh more, he said.

When Deepak told them that he could not pay the huge amount, the members ordered him to send his wife as payment.

After the matter was resolved, Mr Ugale said, “Everything has been forgiven and the couple is returning to their village. I got a call from a panch member at 7 pm today. We retract our complaint and thank all for helping us.”

The Andhshraddha Nirmulan Samiti was pursuing the aggrieved couple’s case. ANS senior leader Krishna Chandgude, through a press release, stated that this case was a victory for ANS. “We pursued the case and got results. We were against filing a police complaint and for solving the issue through negotiations from the start,” he said.

Jat panchayats enjoy considerable clout among their community members, according to Forward Bloc leader Mahesh Avhad.

“Women and girls are molested and even raped by the jat panchayat members, but such cases go unreported because the family is warned with ostracisation. After being expelled from the community, they can’t marry in their caste, don’t get caste certificates, relatives cut off communication and the family has to leave their property and migrate,” Mr Avhad said.