- The man's mother, Jasbir Kaur, was accused of giving her consent for the wedding
- The village panchayat had passed a resolution against love marriage
- It is alleged by the victim's family that the cops did not take any action
A mother was beaten in Ghalkalan village of Moga in Punjab after her son had a love marriage with a woman from the same village, which was against an archaic diktat by the village's panchayat, which said that if any man or woman of the village does a love marriage, then they will not be allowed to live here.
On May 5, Tarsem Singh's elder son, Melanath, married a woman from the village in a court. After their wedding, the couple were living somewhere else, and the village panchayat had passed a diktat, after which the bride's family and some members of the panchayat allegedly kept pressurising the groom's family. The man's mother, Jasbir Kaur, was accused of giving her consent for the wedding. Ms Kaur feared action from the villagers, and she started living at her relative's house two months ago.
When Ms Kaur returned home on July 21, the village sarpanch's husband, Sukhchen Singh, and the bride's family reached her house and allegedly physically assaulted her in front of everyone and locked the house and allegedly denied them entry in their own house, forcing her to spend the night on the road. The injured woman was taken to the hospital. It is alleged by the family that the cops did not take any action, and she had to meet a senior officer for help. The police are yet to respond.
The victim's family was forced to apologise in front of the villagers.
The victim said that no member of her family had information about the marriage, but the bride's family assumed that we had a role to play in it, adding that her son hadn't returned home in the last two months, and her husband and younger son are living in the house. Ms Kaur alleged that Sukhchen Singh gathered 100 people on the night of July 21 and publicly physically assaulted her.
The woman has alleged that she reached the office of the Senior Superintendent of Police twice, but no one listened to her.
Sukchen Singh is the husband of the village sarpanch. Mr Singh said a resolution was passed in the village and threatened action against those who help anyone do a love marriage in the village.
