Pune: The Maharashtra government is planning to introduce an inter-caste marriage legislation to prevent heinous crimes like ‘honour killings’, State Minister for Social Justice Rajkumar Badole said here on Sunday.
“Many couples and families have had to endure trauma and a litany of atrocities for having challenged regressive social norms, despite the government providing financial incentives to encourage inter-caste marriages. This law is to ensure their security and to protect their children,” Mr. Badole said during a lecture at the Balgandharva Rangmandir. The talk was organised as part of the ongoing celebrations of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar’s 126th birth anniversary.
The plan to introduce the law was mooted in March, with Mr. Badole chairing a nine-member committee constituted to frame the legislation. The law will give inter-caste couples priority during employment, apart from financial aid from the government.
“Dr. Ambedkar desired a Maharashtra free of social inequality and caste divide. Despite him giving us the Constitution, the country has never given him his due. The Hindu Code Bill, for which he fought tenaciously, was dropped by the Indian Parliament of the 1950s, and words like freedom, equality and fraternity continue to remain tokenisms,” Mr. Badole said.
The legislation is planned along the lines of the revolutionary law enacted by Shahu Maharaj, the reformer and ruler Kolhapur, in 1919.
