Unofficial Village Group Orders Divorced Woman To Lick Spit For Marrying Again: Report

A 35-year-old woman, who divorced and married for a second time, was ordered by a 'caste panchayat' of her community to lick spit as punishment in Maharashtra's Akola district, an official said today.

The caste panchayat also ordered the woman to pay Rs 1 lakh to it for her act, he told news agency Press Trust of India.

Showing courage, the woman defied both the diktats and lodged a police complaint.

The shocking incident took place last month, but came to light when a case was registered against the unofficial village council, he said.

On a complaint of the woman, who stays in Maharashtra's Jalgaon district, an FIR or police case under sections 5 and 6 of the Maharashtra Protection of People from Social Boycott (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2016, has been registered against ten members of the 'caste panchayat', the official said.

The FIR was registered on Thursday evening at Jalgaon's Chopda city police station, under whose jurisdiction the woman resides, and later the case was transferred for investigation to the Pinjar police station in Akola where the incident took place, he said.

According to the complaint, the incident took place on April 9 at Wadgaon village in Maharashtra's Akola, where the 'caste panchayat' was called to take a decision on the second marriage, he told news agency Press Trust of India.

The woman got married for the second time in 2019 after a divorce from her first husband in 2015, the official said.

At the 'caste panchayat' meeting, members discussed the woman's second marriage and called her sister and other relatives, and delivered their "verdict" on the issue (the woman was not present at the meet), the official told Press Trust of India.

According to the "verdict", members of the 'caste panchayat' were to spit on banana leaves and the woman was to lick it as a punishment, the official told news agency PTI. The caste panchayat sought a payment of Rs 1 lakh from the woman, he said.

The woman was told that only after fulfilling these demands by the 'panchayat', she could "return" to her community, the official told PTI, quoting from the complaint.

The decision of the 'caste panchayat' was conveyed to the woman by her relatives.

Shocked by the decision, the woman approached the police and filed the complaint against members of the 'panchayat', said Pravin Munde, Superintendent of Police, Jalgaon.

As the incident took place in Akola, the case has been transferred there for further investigation, he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)