'Caste Panchayat' Members Booked for Social Boycott of Woman, Kin for Father-in-Law's Love Marriage

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: A case has been registered against nine members of a 'caste panchayat' for ordering social boycott of a woman and her family as her father-in-law married a woman he was in love with in Maharashtra 's Beed, police said.

The order to ostracise the family "for seven generations" was given by the panchayat of Nandiwale (Tirmali) community, a nomadic tribe, a few days back. Before passing the boycott order, it also threatened to kill the woman's family members if they contacted the police in this matter, they said on Friday.

A caste panchayat, known as 'jat panchayat' in Marathi, is a form of internal dispute mechanism of different communities. These panchayats operate as extra-judicial bodies that govern respective tribes or communities.

The case against the nine panchayat members was registered at the Ashti police station in Beed based on the complaint lodged by the woman, a labourer, a police official said.

The complainant, 32-year-old lives with her husband Shivaji and their children in Kada Karkhana area of Beed district. She and her family members were asked to appear before the panchayat at Doithan village on 21 September. Accordingly, they went there, where nine 'panch' (juries) and around 800 people from their community were present, he said.

As per the FIR, they were again called the next day. The panchayat members then told her that her father-in-law, Narsu Fulmali, had a love marriage without the consent of the panchayat. He was asked to pay Rs 2.5 lakh as fine for his act, he said.

But as he failed to pay the amount, the panchayat asked Malan and her family to pay the fine. The panchayat members also threatened to kill the family if they contacted the police. But when Malan expressed the family's inability to pay Rs 2.5 lakh, the panchayat ordered a social boycott of the family from the community for seven generations, it said.

Following this order, the woman approached the police and lodged a complaint, the official said.

Based on her complaint, the case was registered against Gangadhar Palwe, Uttam Fulmali, Ganga Fulmali, Chinnu Fulmali, Subhash Fulmali, Baburao Fulmali, Shetiba Kakde, Sayaji Fulmali and Gulab Palwe under sections of the Maharashtra Protection of People from Social Boycott (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2016 and also under sections pertaining to unlawful assembly and criminal intimidation of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

"The matter is currently being probed and nobody has been arrested so far in this connection," the Ashti police station official said. 

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