Jaipur: Love marriage with a girl from own community proved costly to a young man and his family. The caste panchayat ostracised the entire family. People were asked severe any kind of relation with the family, and they are not allowed to take water from public tap. With no help from the law, the head of the family agreed to serve punishment and pay a hefty fine but even after that the social boycott continues.
The matter relates to Mahaveer Sharma of Bala Nagar in Mandal block of Bhilwara district. He married to Sampati Sharma in Jhabua court in Ratlam in 2012. However, the girl’s family did not like it and used its influence on the community leaders. One of them Dalchand Joshi is relative of girl’s family.
The caste panchayat ordered social boycott of Mahaveer Sharma and his family. People were warned of dire consequences if they kept any tie with Mahaveer’s family. Not only were people forced to sever ties but the victims were also not allowed to collect water from public tap.
“My life has been made hell for last six years because the girl’s family was against our marriage. I filed complaint through court but he police did not take any action,” Mahaveer said.
Finally, Mahaveer’s father Madanlal Sharma, a halwai by profession whose business suffered a lot because of social boycott, approached community leaders and members of the kangaroo court for settlement to end the misery. The caste panchayat ordered him to keep shoes of community members on his head for 15 minutes and pay Rs 1.51 lakh fine, which he did.
However, the caste panchayat after collecting money reneged on its promise.
“The panch are dabang. Despite collecting fine they have not revoked social boycott. The trauma of living in isolation, financial constraints and the set back of caste panchayat’s betrayal was too much for one of my daughter-in-laws who died on June 13,” said Madan Lal Sharma.
Dalchand Joshi one of the members of caste panchayat denies his hand in the matter claiming that he did not attend a single meeting of panchayat and if the panchayat accepts the victim’s family back into community, he would have no problem.
