An elderly woman, who accidentally killed a calf, was ordered by a caste panchayat in Bhind district, Madhya Pradesh to beg and collect money for a dip in the Ganga as penance.
Teenage girl from Maharashtra forced to eat cow dung to ward off evil spirit
Kamala Devi, a 60-year-old widow, was trying to separate a calf from its mother, on Friday morning at around 6:00 am when the accident took place. When she tried to pull the calf away, the rope around its neck got tightened by mistake and it died chocking.
As the news spread, the members of the Nai community convened a panchayat at 10:00 am. It ordered the widow to beg in the nearby villages and raise money for Ganga Snaan, a Hindu ritual of taking a dip in the river Ganga to get rid of sins. The panchayat also asked Devi, a member of a backward community, to serve food to girls.
The woman reportedly fainted on hearing the order of the caste panchayat and had to be hospitalised.
The incident has drawn a mixed reaction. Devi's son, Anil Sriwas, did not find anything unusual about it. The caste panchayat simply followed the norms and customs of the religion as his mother had committed a "mistake", he said. But the corporator of the district, Mukesh Garg termed the punishment as "inhuman and illegal".
"In today's era, such diktats are not justified. Police should take action," the Hindustan Times quoted the corporator as saying.
Meanwhile, Superintendent of Police Anil Singh Kushwaha said no complaint has been filed by anybody in connection with the incident.
"I came to know about the incident through media. We have not received any complaint in this regard," the police officer told an English daily.
Taking note of the incident, district collector Ilayaraja T promised a probe in the matter.
