A ‘caste panchayat’ in𒈔 Maharashtra’s Akola district, as a punishment of remarrying after divorce, asked a 35-year-old woman to lick spit, an official said on Friday.
The woman was also asked to💝 pay Rs 1 lakh her act.
Showing courag🐻e, ꦍthe woman defied both the diktats and lodged a police complaint.
The shocking incident took place last month,🌞 but came to light when a case was registered against the unofficꦕial village council, he said.
On a complaint of the vicཧtim, who stays in Jalgaon district, an FIR und🦂er sections 5 and 6 of the Maharashtra Protection of People from Social Boycott (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2016, has been registered against ten members of the caste panchayat, the official said.
The FIR was register♉ed on Thursday evening at Jalgaon's Chopda city police station, under whose jurisdiction the woman resides, and later the case was transferred for investigationℱ to the Pinjar police station in Akola where the incident took place, he said.
According to the complaint, the incident took place on April 9 at Wadgaon village in Akola, where the caste panchayat was called to take a decision on the second marriage of the victim, he sai🅘d.
The victim belongs to the 'Nath Jogi' communi♔ty, whose caste panchayat did not accept her second🐼 marriage, the official said.
The victim go🔯t married for the second time in 2019 after taking divorce from her first husband i♑n 2015, the official said.
Her first marriage took place in 2011, he said.
At the caste panchayat meeting, members discussed the woman's second marriage and called her sister and other relatives, and delivered their "verdict" on the issue (the victim ༺was not present at the meet), the official said.
According to the verdict, members of the caste panchayat were to spit on banana leaves and the victim was to lick it as a puniꦯshment, the official said.
Besides, the caste panchayat sought a payment of Rs 1 lakh 🐭from the victim, he said.
After fulfilling these demands by the panchayat, the victim was told she can "return" to her ♒community, the official said, quoting from the complai🅰nt.
The decision of the caste panchayat was ✨conveyed to the victim by her relatives.
Shocked by the decision, th♕e victim approached the Chopda city police station and lodged the complaint against members of the 🧸panchayat, said Pravin Munde, Superintendent of Police, Jalgaon.
As the incident took placeಌ in Akola, ꦫthe case has been transferred there for further investigation, he said.
