Awareness campaign for Social boycott act to kick off from May 1

The Prohibition of People from Social Boycott (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act was passed last year.

The Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) will kick off a year-long awareness campaign from May 1, wherein they will be visiting remote areas of the state and speaking to people about the provisions of the social boycott act.

Activists believe that people at ground level are not aware about the social boycott act. (HT PHOTO/PICTURE FOR REPRESENTATIONAL PURPOSES)

Though Maharashtra became the first state to pass the Prohibition of People from Social Boycott (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act last year, activists believe that people at ground level are not aware about it.

“Maharashtra has caste panchayats operating in remote areas and this act is relevant for these communities, which is why we want to reach out to them. We will start our campaign from Mumbai and then head towards Konkan. A major concern is that even constables and police personnel in the city are not aware of the provisions of this act,” said Mukta Dabholkar, daughter of Narendra Dabholkar, founder of MANS.

Mukta also went on to add that as of now only 20 cases have been registered across the state under this act.

Neelam Gorhe, nember of the legislative council from Pune, who was present at the conference where the announcement was made, said she has spoken to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to arrange for a session where police personnel are informed about the provisions of the act.

“Cases related to caste panchayat have increased to 20% from 5-6% ten years ago,” said Gorhe.

“We call Maharashtra a progressive state because we got this act, but that’s not that the case, our state is not progressive, which is why we are still talking about superstitions in 21st century,” said Supriya Sule, member of parliament from Baramati.