Panchewa village in Ratlam district announced complete social and economic ostracism of families allowing love or choice marriages.
Prompted by recent elopements (about 8 in six months) and inter-caste unions.
Local officials visited to clarify illegality of boycotts.
Residents of Panchewa village in Ratlam district, Madhya Pradesh, publicly announced a strict social boycott against families whose children elope or marry by choice, including love marriages and inter-caste unions. A viral video from a village gathering shows a young man reading out a "decree" declaring that any boy or girl who marries without family approval will face punishment, and their entire family will be ostracised from village life.
The boycott measures are severe: affected families will be barred from social events, denied daily necessities such as milk, prohibited from hiring or being hired as labourers, and cut off from economic interactions like land leasing. No villager will work in their homes or lease land to them, and anyone who hires, shelters, facilitates, or even witnesses such marriages will themselves face the same boycott. The announcement names heads of three specific families as initial targets, escalating the threat to collective punishment.
Villagers justified the decision by citing a surge in elopements—around eight couples reportedly married without consent in the past six months—leading to social tensions and alleged non-cooperation by some women during police or magistrate proceedings. The decree was not issued by an official gram sabha but through a gathering of elders and residents, according to local administration probes.
Authorities have intervened swiftly: Janpad CEO and Patwari visited the village for damage control, explaining that social boycotts are illegal and unconstitutional. SDOP Sandeep Malviya stated that action would be taken under law upon a formal complaint. Legal experts and Supreme Court precedents affirm that adults (women 18+, men 21+) have the right to marry by choice, and panchayat-style boycotts violate fundamental rights, with the state obligated to protect such couples.
The incident has sparked outrage online and in media, highlighting persistent rural resistance to individual freedoms in marriage despite legal protections, and raising concerns over enforcement of constitutional rights in remote areas.
