Lover's elope, panchayat gives tit for tat order

Barely a couple of days before Valentine’s Day, a caste panchayat has pronounced an order that has made life difficult for the family of a youth, who eloped with his lover, in Uttar Pradesh’s Jyotiba Phule Nagar district. The girl’s family had refused to marry their daughter to him.

According to reports the youth and the girl, belonged to different castes and were having an affair for sometime, but their relationship was not approved by their families. Sources claim they had a secret marriage in court as well.

On Wednesday last, the youth had approached the police with an application saying the girl’s family had held her ‘hostage’.The police, after taking statement of the girl, asked her family members to release her and allow her to live with her husband.

The couple, however, eloped on Thursday triggering tension in the village and prompting the elders to convene a panchayat.

The panchayat, deliberated on the matter on Friday at Kaserwa village in the district, and allowed a day for the family of the youth to produce the girl. If they failed to do so the sister of the youth would be married off to a boy from the girl’s family.

At the panchayat, the youth’s father was asked to produce the girl immediately but he expressed his helplessness and said he had no idea where they were. The panchayat dispersed after giving him one day to comply with the directive. The pradhan (village chief) Tahir Ali said the girl’s family must have helped them elope to create pressure on the youth’s parents.

Police officials said they were investigating the matter and take stern action if the report was found to be true.