The Herwad village panchayat in Maharashtra passed the historic resolutions banning the humiliating age-old customs that forbade the widows from practising the normal ways of living in society.
As per the resolutions, henceforth, no woman in Herwad village would follow the painful customs of widowhood that has been going on for years to years in Maharashtra and another part of India as well. Maharashtra women and child development and welfare minister Yashmoati Thakur welcomed the Herwad village decisions. She said that this decision will be implemented across Maharashtra.
“We have to abandon all these age old anti woman practice and customs. We are happy people are accepting the positive change. I have personally gone through such situations. Society has to also change,” Ms Thakur said.
The resolution reads, “When the husband dies, a woman is subjected to bad practice and rituals such as not applying her sindoor, removing her mangalsutra, breaking her bangles, not wearing colourful saree or dresses and removing toe ring etc.”
It further added widow women in society are also barred from attending any social, family and religious gatherings. “The window has been stigmatized and ostracized by society. They were humiliated everywhere after the death of her husband. Her social status as a married woman has been snatched by society due to these age-old traditional bad practices.
These practices deprive her of her rights and violate human rights that have now been protected in constitutions and new acts for the welfare of women in society. The resolution allows widow women to live normal life like any other woman. All are equal before the law,” reads the resolution. Interestingly, another village – Mangaon passed such a resolution in their village panchayat general body meeting.
Varsha Gaikwad, school education minister welcomed the decisions of these villages. She said that both Herwad and Mangaon village has shown the way to the world. “Both the villages set very good precedents for the other villages and people.
I am very happy and grateful to both the villages for taking such a historic and revolutionary step by abandoning practices that stripped women from their living rights. This is the land of reformer King Shahu Maharaj who always worked for the oppressed class reform and progress,” Gaikwad said.
Praful Wankhede, chairman of the Lets Read India foundation welcomed both the village's decisions. He said that after the death of husbands, women were never treated as women due to these age-old practices, especially for
widows.
“The woman was forcefully asked to remove all signs of married women after her husband's died. This is completely inhuman and a violation of human rights. The widow women existence was denied because of this anti-social practice. Our earlier reformer repealed many practices but some of them have still remained in society.
Now, we have to come forward to expel all wrong things from society and that will be a real tribute to our social reformers like Mahatma Phule, King Sahu, Dr Br Ambedkar and Raja Ram Mohan Roy who banned the Sati practice in India,” Wankhede said.