E-Paper
Gotra Row: Youth elopes, family faces boycott
In the land notorious for its khap panchayats, another family has been socially boycotted following their son’s elopement with a girl in Charkhi Dadri in Bhiwani district.
In the land notorious for its khap panchayats, another family has been socially boycotted following their son’s elopement with a girl in Charkhi Dadri in Bhiwani district.
Dhanak community panchayat at Charkhi Dadri has decided to boycott of the family as the youth, Rakesh (22) belongs
to the girl's mother's gotra-Khundia. Hence, there cannot be a matrimonial alliance between the two.
The couple ran away from their homes on July 2 following which the girl's father lodged a complaint in Charkhi
Dadri police station against Rakesh on July 8. The police arrested the couple on Saturday and the girl, who is a minor, was produced in a court the same day. She was sent to Nari Niketan after she refused to go with her parents.
A panchayat of Dhanak community, to which the couple belongs, was held at Charkhi Dadri on Sunday where the
girl's father said that since the couple belonged to the same gotra, as per its customs , they could not marry.
The panchayat then concluded that Rakesh had violated social norms of ‘bhaichara' with the girl and a social boycott was imposed on Rakesh's family. Neither Rakesh nor any of his family members was present in the panchayat.
Rakesh's uncle Paras Ram, meanwhile, described the decision as “unilateral” without the boy's family being given a chance to present its views.
