Panchayat calls for boycott of six families in Haryana

Jind, Sep 2 (UNI) In another case of medieval justice in Haryana, a Panchayat today ordered the social boycott of six families of a village holding them 'guilty' of 'suppressing information' about the whereabouts of their relative who had eloped with a young girl of a neighbouring village.

The families that have been 'boycotted' include the parents of the boy who eloped with a girl from Neelam village. The families include those of Ram Kumar, Raj Kumar, Ram Swaroop, Satbir, Hoshiar Singh and Nafe Singh, all residents of Dhowghriya village in the district.

This decision was taken yesterday at a meeting of the Panchayat held in the village school, officiaL sources here today said and endorsed by about 100 villagers present in the meeting.

The Panchayat in its decision held that the boy's relatives were aware of the whereabouts of the young couple and that they were not helping in getting them traced. The Panchayat warned that those who do not honour this decision would be dealt with sternly.

The meeting was attended by Sarpanch Ranbir Singh, former Saroanch Vajinder Singh, Panch Chattar Singh and others.

The boy belongs to the Nain community while the girl is from the Bura community.

According to the Panchayat members, the couple was currently staying in a village in Moreang district of Nepal. A Haryana police party had gone to Nepal and had succeeded in locating the two, but due to objections of the Nepali police, returned empty handed.

District police chief J S Lamba when contacted confirmed the claims of the Panchayat that the Haryana police had to return empty handed from Nepal. He said that the matter was now being referred to the External Affairs Ministry.

UNI