Maharashtra government to introduce social boycott Bill in budget session

The Maharashtra government on Tuesday decided to table the Maharashtra Prohibition of Social Boycott Bill in the upcoming budget session from March 9.

"As per the provisions of the Bill, if an individual or a caste panchayat boycotts an individual or a community, that person or community will be either fined up to Rs 1 lakh or sentenced to three years' imprisonment. We are also proposing community services such as cleaning roads. The law should be deterrent," Eknath Khadse, senior BJP minister, told dna.

Khadse said that maximum social boycott cases are being reported from the Konkan region. "In majority of the cases, the punishment is inhuman. People have been barred from attending social functions or festivals and women have been asked to strip in front of the panchayat. We want to stop all these unconstitutional practices. Maharashtra will be the first state to introduce this Bill. There will be strict provisions in the Bill to end social harassment," Khadse added.

Whether the offence will be cognisable or not or bailable or non-bailable will depend on the gravity of the crime.

Once the Bill is tabled in the Assembly, the opposition will submit its views. "As per the Constitution, each individual has the right to live life with dignity," said a senior government official.

As per an earlier draft Bill, 'community' means a group, members of which are connected together by birth, conversion or the performance of a religious rite or ceremony and belong to the same religion or creed or a caste or sub-caste.

With a number of cases being filed in the high court by social activists, the court had directed the Maharashtra government to check social boycotts imposed by caste panchayats and enact a law.

In the 1950s, there was a Bombay Prevention of Excommunication Act, 1949. The law was, however, deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1962.