Click to play videoNew Delhi: After a 24-hour, televised ordeal, baby Ankush – the infant from Haryana’s Karnal town – has been reunited with his parents.
Ankush was allegedly kidnapped by the Panchayat of his parents’ native Katlari village in Haryana. The Panchayat claims the marriage between his parents, Kavita and Pawan, is illegitimate because they are from the same gotra or lineage.
After much furore and media limelight later, police recovered Ankush from a village near Karnal.
The baby was sent for a medical examination which declared him fit. The Haryana Police have now registered an FIR against six people, who are charged with kidnapping and criminal intimidation.
Ankush’s mother, Kavita, is elated. “I am ready to fight even if society doesn’t support me. I would like to thank the police for reuniting my family,” she says.
However, the panchayat members are unrepentant. They claim their decision was in keeping with traditions that need to be preserved.
“This is the collective decision of our community. People will be proud even if I have to sacrifice my life for tradition. If this becomes an issue with dalits, then the Haryana government may be in trouble,” says a panchayat member Ranveer Singh.
The family has now been sent to an undisclosed location in Mumbai.
One week ago, Kavita and Pawan had had their child taken away by their caste panchayat because they had married against custom. Not one villager spoke out in their favour.
Kavita and Pawan were from the same gotra, an ancient system of classification by clan, and village elders had said their marriage amounted to incest.
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