News Source: TimesofIndia| Image Source: TimesofIndia
The antediluvian mindset has once again struck the chord of Meerut, when Khap panchayat issued a diktat to rape and parade a Dalit woman along with her sister naked around the village for their brother’s alleged elopement with a married woman from the Jat community.
The 23-year-old resident has knocked the door of Supreme court following which it has issued notices to the Uttar Pradesh police seeking their response the resident’s demand for a CBI enquiry into the matter.
The 22 year-old man was having an affair with a 21-year-old girl belonging to an upper caste family for the past three years. When the woman’s family rebuked the couple’s decision of marriage, they eloped in Jan 2015. Soon after, a panchayat was called in which the man’s family was told that if the couple did not return, the man’s two sisters would be raped and paraded naked. Two days later, the couple returned.
On February 17, the woman was married in Haryana. When she returned home, the couple again eloped 15 days after the marriage. On March 10, an FIR was lodged and the boy was charged with abduction. On May 27, the police found the couple at Meerut. In a statement at the SDM’s court, the girl, charged the man with abducting her. The man has been in prison at Meerut ever since and his family has moved to Delhi.
Police and the native villagers, however, deny about the happening of any such panchayat.
“The man is currently lodged in jail on charges of abducting a married woman. Regarding the khap panchayat’s diktat, it is a baseless accusation. Had there been any such panchayat, we would have known of that,” said Subodh Yadav, Khekra Police station-in-charge.
with inputs from Times Of India
