- Friday, April 26, 2024
By: Eastern Eye Staff
India’s Maharashtra state has become the first in the country to ban village councils from imposing “social boycotts” that ostracise individuals or families for defying tradition. Women and lower caste Dalits often bear the brunt of such judgments, passed as punishment for perceived misdeeds such as marrying between castes or dressing immodestly. The western Indian state last month passed the law against a decades-old practice of village panchayats, or councils, ordering social boycotts. “The Act was required against the backdrop of atrocities inflicted on people in the name of tradition, caste and community,” said Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. “It…
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