Panchayats in Haryana has lost the better sense of social justice. Accused involved in serious criminal acts such as dowry rape and get away with punishment like 5 shoes slaps and fine as low as 75 paise.
On Monday, a community panchayat in Fatehabad settled a dowry case by imposing a fine of just 75 paise to the accused family after both the parties approached it for compromise.
22 year-old Mansi was engaged to Sanjeev Kumar, a resident of a village in Punjab’s Mansa district last January and both the families had finalize the marriage on 22 April as the wedding date.
However, the engagement was called off just before nine days before wedding for demanding a car in dowry.
As per Mansi’s maternal uncle, Naresh Sharma, Sanjeev’s family demanded the car on April 3, which was beyond their capacity.
The bride’s family requested they had made all the arrangements for the wedding and even distributed the invitation cards, but their remained adamant on their demand and finally cancelled the engagement.
The bride’s family was forced filed a complaint and from there the case was handed over to the local panchayat by the deputy superintendent of police, Fatehabad.
“The groom’s family was found guilty, of breaking the wedding, by the panchayat, which besides waiving off the `2.11 lakh paid as shagun, also fined them 75 paise. Money does not matter here. We are happy that our daughter was saved from the clutches of a dowry-hungry family,” Sharma said.
Sanjeev’s family accepted that they were fined 75 paise for breaking the wedding but denied the charges of dowry.
A fine of 75 paisa penalty was paid by the Sanjeev’s family at the local gaushala (cow shelter).