On Saturday, a panchayat called by a Gujjar Samaj committee in Muzaffarnagar issued a stern diktat - "Girls should not wear jeans or use cell phones. That should be forbidden in our village."
The panchayat in Jadwad village, had been called to discuss lawlessness in the village. At the end of the meeting, besides this diktat, the committee also decided that no alcohol will be sold in the village and anyone who is caught doing so will be fined heavily.
"Young unmarried women anyways do not need cell phones. What will they do with it? After marriage maybe they can. And wearing jeans is against our culture. So they should not," said Ashok Kumar, a Gujjar Samaj member and village head.
