This Palghar village takes lead, forbids widowhood rituals

Palghar: The beauty of Palghar’s Mahim gram panchayat is not just in its scenic Kelwe coast, it’s also in its firm stand against the shackles of widowhood rituals. The village, the first in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, recently passed a resolution to ban old and anti-human rituals linked to widowhood.

In other words, the ancient and de-humanizing rituals like removing the widow’s mangalsutra, not allowing her to wear vermillion on forehead, breaking bangles during the funeral rites of deceased husband, and social boycotting from all village functions will not be allowed any longer. Village sarpanch Deepak Karbat said, “Though tonsuring was stopped long ago, we also need to stop the other rituals.”

The resolution was mooted by gram panchayat member Vijay Patil, and seconded by Deepak Bhandari, with the rest of them approving it in unison.

In May this year, the state rural development and labour minister Hasan Mushrif had issued a circular, asking all village panchayats in Maharashtra to stop old rituals and ill-practices. Karbat said, “We are living in a scientific era and such practices should be stopped.”

A social activist from Saphale, Navin Patil said, “The other gram panchayats in the state should also pass resolutions like the one passed by our gram panchayat and implement the government circular. We need to treat widows with dignity, and there is a need to spread awareness in this regard.” He said the social stigma needs to be removed and Mahim gram panchayat has taken the right step in this direction. Karbat said many men succumbed to coronavirus and this made the village take the historic step.