After over dozen incidents of inter-religious love affairs, communally sensitive Junnar village issues death threat to couples who eloped
After over dozen incidents of inter-religious love affairs, communally sensitive Junnar village issues death threat to couples who eloped
As India celebrated her 64th Independence Day, secret meetings were conducted by two communities in Junnar, a historically important and scenic village near the city. Devising strategies to stop their young women from getting into inter-religious love affairs was the agenda of the discussions.
With more than a dozen young women having reportedly eloped with their lovers, their guardians issued a warning to the eloped couples: "If you ever return, we will kill you."
Seema (21), a Master of Arts, got into a relationship with Samir (23) while studying at Chhatrapati College.
When her father came to know, her mobile phone was taken away from her and she was asked not to venture out of the house. Seema silently abided by her father's diktat for a few months. Recently, when things cooled down a bit, she ran away with her lover.
With Shabana (19), it was a similar story. She defied her community leaders' advice and eloped with her lover Sachin (21) on August 12.
'They let us down'
Dada Khatri, member of a family distressed by the elopement of one of its young women, said, "The girls have let us down. Despite bringing them up in the right manner and inculcating good values in them, our daughters have eloped. They are dead for us now."
Mohsin Qureshi, cousin of a young woman who ran away with her lover, said, "We tried hard to convince her. She was also sent for a few days to one of our religious leaders in Mumbai for counseling. But our efforts have gone in vain."
Four police cases
Police Sub-Inspector Nakul Nyamne from the Junnar police station said, "The situation in the village is now under control. Only four cases of girls gone missing have been reported to the police. About 12 more such cases have been noticed, but the parents haven't approached the police."
A villager who attended the secret meeting of elders said it was a matter of reputation of the family in the community.
"We have decided to be aggressive. The girls have done great harm to the community and destroyed our reputation," said the villager, who did not wish to be identified. "If the couples return, we will not allow them to stay in the village. We will kill them."
Curbs on youth
The villagers have also decided to curb the freedom of the youth to prevent them from mingling with the opposite sex.
"Girls are not allowed to talk on mobiles anymore. A girl was slapped by a police officer just because she was laughing while talking on her phone. We also keep a watch on our girls and ensure that they are not seen with any of boys from outside the community," said a college-going youth.
In the overheated scenario, several rumours are also doing the rounds of the village. To check rumour-mongers, police patrolling has been intensified and a strict view is taken of late night meetings of young people in the chowks of the village. All shops are closed by the police at 10.30 pm.
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(Names of couples who eloped changed to protect identity)
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