Regressive residents of a Baghpat village, where the local panchayat banned under-40 women from using mobile phones outside their homes and shopping alone, attacked a police team trying to probe the matter on Thursday night.
In Talibanesque edicts seeking to curb women’s freedom, the panchayat in Asara village in the western UP district had on Wednesday also banned love marriages.
Reacting to the illegal order backed by men from all castes and communities of the village, home minister P Chidambaram said: “There is no place for such diktats in a democratic society. If such a diktat is being issued in Baghpat, I would expect the state government to instruct the police to ensure that nobody comes to harm for violating that diktat.”
Baghpat is represented in the Lok Sabha by civil aviation minister Ajit Singh of the Rashtriya Lok Dal.