Maharashtra: 12 booked for ordering social boycott of family over marriage

Police have registered an offence against at least 12 persons for allegedly ordering social boycott of a 23yearold man and his family in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra after he married a woman belonging to his caste from his own hamlet an official said on ThursdayThe man recently lodged a complaint at Devrukh police station in Ratnagiris Sangmeshwar tehsil alleging humiliation by the group of villagers who opposed his marriage within the local fraternity the official saidThe complainant and the accused belong to the same caste Scheduled Caste He hails from Patgaon Bouddhawadi at Devrukh He currently works with a leading private broadcast satellite service provider as an engineer and currently stays at Vasai in Palghar district the police official saidHe married a 20yearold woman he was in love with at Khar in Mumbai last year The woman was also from his hamlet and belonged to the same caste She resided in Kopar Khairane in Navi Mumbai and worked in another department of his company he saidAfter the marriage the members of their community from the hamlet decided to boycott the complainants family as he married a woman who belonged to the same place According to them such marriages were not permitted as they considered the hamlet as one fraternity the official saidThe community members also told them that the marriage was not acceptable to them The decision to boycott the complainant and his family was taken in a meeting held on March 15 last year in Patgaon and it mentioned the same in the meeting book he addedAfter the meeting the complainants family was not allowed to speak to any person belonging to their community or attend any functions or celebrations of the community members at the hamlet Besides the family was also not allowed to enter the village he saidThe complainants family was also not allowed to inform about the death of the complainants grandmother and his uncle was not given permission to attend the death rituals he saidBased on the mans complaint an offence was registered against the accused under sections of theMaharashtra Prohibition of People from social Boycott Prevention Prohibition and RedressalAct2016 and under various IPC sections including 120 B 143 and 153 the official saidNotices have been issued to the accused in this connection The father of the complanants wife is one of the accused in the case he saidInvestigation into the case is on he saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever