Love marriage row: Youth told to 'hand over woman' to her family in Haryana

MAHENDRAGARH/HISAR: A panchayat of 31 villages was held in Bigopur village in Haryana's Mahendragarh district on Monday amid a social boycott of the latter over a love marriage.
It is being claimed that after the panchayat, people of both the villages - Bigopur and Dholera - have convinced the youth's family to "hand over the girl" to her family. However, his family could not be contacted.At the same time, it has been decided to continue the social boycott till an agreement is reached. The social boycott of Bigopur followed after Vikas married the woman from Dholera. The couple belong to the same caste and their gotras are also different, but the fact that the distance between their villages is only 2 kilometers became the bone of contention.
Bigopur sarpanch representative Kanwar Singh said that in Monday's panchayat, an initiative for compromise was taken by both the villages.
For this, a committee - comprising seven people from Bigopur and Dholera each and people from 31 villages - has been formed.
Youth's father Sajjan Singh, who was persuaded to hand over the woman to her family, agreed to this. After this, the committee went to Dholera village and met the woman's family and signed a written agreement.
The agreement says that after "handing over the woman to her family, no FIR of rape will be registered against the youth and no other case will be filed".
However, under the rules of Hindu Marriage Act, both the youth and the woman will also be divorced, Kanwar said. Vikas and the woman from Dholera village, who took coaching in Narnaul, became friends. About two weeks ago, both of them fled their respective homes and went to Uttar Pradesh and got married in a temple. On June 12, both of them came to the Narnaul district court and sought protection from their respective families, saying that their lives were in danger.
Both of them were sent to the Protection Home. The villagers of Dholera held a panchayat last Thursday and boycotted Bigopur.