Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced here on Wednesday that his Government would soon come out with a legislation to end the practice of social boycott witnessed in some parts of the State.
Replying to a debate on a calling attention motion moved by Rana Jagjit Singh Patil of the NCP on growing instances of social boycott witnessed in some parts of the State, the CM said, “The draft of the legislation is ready. We will fine-tune the draft within three months and come out with a formal bill to stop the practice of social boycott. All the same, a law is not enough to stop such practices. We need to create awareness among people on this social evil”.
The CM said that a couple was boycotted by a village panchayat in CIDCO area of Aurangabad in Marathwada region and slapped with a fine of Rs1.45 lakh for marrying in the same ‘gotra’. “An offence has been in connection with this incident. In all, 11 persons have been arrested,” he said.
Similarly, as many as 34 cases of social boycott have been registered in Raigad district of coastal Konkan region. Of the registered case, charge-sheets have been filed in 28 cases, while investigations are on in rest of the cases. Such is the gravity of the social boycott in Maharashtra that in just one taluka – Roha in Raigad district – as many as 22 families of Dongri village had faced social boycott for varied reasons.
In one of the glaring instances, Rahul Yelange (30), who was part of a team that had climbed Mount Everest in May 2012, and his wife faced social boycott in their Budruk village in Raigad district, after she was found wearing jeans instead of a sari and was seen without the traditional mangalsutra around neck or a bindi on her forehead.