Taliban-type decree by Khap in Uttar Pradesh

In yet another outrageous diktat by a Khap panchayat, a self-styled community council here has ruled that a boy who had eloped with a girl, hailing from another village, will have to hand over a girl from his own village as punishment or else face dire consequences.

This has terrified residents of Daula village, the native place of the boy, prompting authorities to deploy PAC and rush additional police to the village.

Fear and tension ran high in Daula with parents sending their daughters to undisclosed places after the notorious diktat issued Sunday.

Those who are still in the village are being fierecly guarded, villagers said.

Adequate police have been deployed in the village to instill confidence among the residents, SHO (Dankore) T J Singh said.

Cases under SC/ST Act have been registered against some 40 people," he said adding no one had been arrested yet.

An upper caste girl from Maicha village had eloped with a lower caste boy from Daula on June 24 leading to a Kangaroo court asking the boy's father to send the girl back within a week or else the family would be eliminated.

The Maicha Khap panchayat met on Sunday and decreed that Daula village must return the girl or its own girls will be forcibly snatched.