In an extra-judicial diktat village elders and representatives of Hisar’s Arya Nagar Panchayat announced a social boycott of a couple from the same locality solemnising love marriage.
He suggested dialogue and mediation instead. He said panchayat orders for social boycott have no legal validity and can put organisers of such panchayats at risk of criminal action for intimidation under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
On being contacted, Hisar superintendent of police Siddhant Jain said the couple from the village, who had recently married, had no threat perception. He said the police would ensure their safety and security and that nobody would be allowed to take the law into their own hands.
However, the parents of such couple will not face any such social boycott. The resolution also proposes similar action against family members or others who support such marriages. The villagers will also set up a committee which will launch a door-to-door campaign to collect views of the villagers about the decision banning marriages in the same village. The meeting was held under chairmanship of Kulwant Gosla and it was decided that the village’s daughter will not marry in the village. However the villagers clarified that the elected village panchayat has no involvement in this decision.
According to the information the Panchayat attended by around 1,000 villagers including women decided that if a man and woman from Arya Nagar marry each other, the couple would face social boycott and would not be allowed to live in the village.
Hanuman Verma, a villager and social activist, told the media persons that the objection stems from a long-standing local practice of treating girls from the village as daughters or sisters. “When we marry our sons into another village, people often ask how many girls from our village have already married into that family” Senior advocate of Punjab and Haryana High Court Kamal Anand said consenting adults have a fundamental right under Article 21 to choose their life partners, and panchayat diktats imposing social boycotts have no legal validity and may invite criminal and statutory action.
