Members of the Thakor community in Gujarat's Banaskantha district have issued a diktat banning unmarried women from carrying mobile phones and fining parents of youngsters opting for inter-caste marriages.
The diktat was passed "unanimously" in a meeting on July 14 by elders of the community from 12 villages in the district's Dantiwada taluka, a leader from the community said Tuesday.
Congress MLA Ganiben Thakor said she saw nothing wrong in the move to ban mobile phones for girls. They should stay away from the technology and spend more time studying, she told reporters.
According to the diktat issued at the meeting, "Unmarried woman should not be given mobile phones. If they are caught with mobile phones, their parents will be held responsible,".
Parents have been asked not to give mobile phones to their college-going daughters so that they can "focus more on studies rather than waste time on mobile phones", another community leader said.
The leaders during the meeting said parents of those from the community going in for inter-caste marriages of their children will be fined Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 2 lakh
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