Woman complains against 'jaat panchayat' for social boycott

A woman from the Kanjarbhat community in Pune lodged a police complaint alleging its jaat panchayat was socially boycotting her and her family for refusal to involve it in a property dispute, an official said on Friday. The dispute reached the jaat panchayat but the complainant and her kin refused to appear before it, a Saswad police station official said.

A woman from the Kanjarbhat community in Pune lodged a police complaint alleging its 'jaat panchayat' was socially boycotting her and her family for refusal to involve it in a property dispute, an official said on Friday. The complaint was filed against six to seven members of the panchayat at Saswad police station under sections of IPC and Prohibition of People from Social Boycott (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act.

"After the woman's father's death, there was a property dispute between her mother and and another woman with whom her father was in a relationship. The dispute reached the jaat panchayat but the complainant and her kin refused to appear before it," a Saswad police station official said. "The decision to boycott the complainant and her family for a period of one year was taken on November 3. It also decided the family would have to pay Rs 1 lakh, five male goats and five liquor bottles to be accepted back in the community," he said.

The official said the people named in the complaint are currently at large..