Statesman News Service
MALDA, June 6: Figureheads of a scavenger society in Malda have announced a fatwa against one of their own. “Pay a sum of Rs 10,000 to escape ostracism,” is what their diktat is against a family, which dared to marry off their minor daughter to a person not belonging to their caste. There is another provision though. The cornered family would have to invite all the residents of the colony to a dinner to atone for their so-called sin. It so happened that Jyoti Harijan, a Class IX student of Chintamoni Girls’ High School fell in love with a local cycle mechanic Chhato Das. Honouring the affair, her parents married her off to the boy on 15 April. The marriage allegedly upset the society the family belongs to and the girl Jyoti was physically heckled by some heads of the society. Her offense - she had married someone beyond her caste. The torture did not stop there. The society heads held a kangaroo court and decided to boycott the family and all belonging to the society were instructed to follow the decision. Jyoti soon found out that leading a normal life was growing difficult from other ends too. “When Jyoti went to school after her marriage, the school authorities instructed her to concentrate on her household chores rather,” alleged Mrs Gouri Harijan, the girl’s mother. According to her, Jyoti wants to continue her education.
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