A Hindu girl asserts her rights-2

Last year, the willowy young woman with the flashing dark eyes refused the entreaties of her “husband” and his family to join them in their village, several hundred miles from a small city in western India where she runs the family grocery shop. She is paying a steep price. Not only does Chaudhry accuse her would-be in-laws of demanding money in exchange for her freedom, but the leaders of her caste — a powerful informal council known as a caste panchayat — have also threatened Chaudhry and her family with the ultimate sanction of excommunication, or ejection from the caste. Such an outcome would rob the family of its social standing and damage the marriage prospects of Chaudhry’s 18-year-old brother, among other things. “If they can’t honor the commitment, society will ostracize them,” said Bhawar Lal, a member of the council, which claims jurisdiction in the case. “The penalty will be a heavy one. She has to understand that she hasn’t even lived with him for one day, and she’s complaining about him. It’s definitely set a bad example.”