Maharashtra Protection of People from Social Boycott (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2016
No: 44 Dated: Jul, 03 2017
Maharashtra Protection of People from Social Boycott (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2016
ACT No. XLIV OF 2017
An Act to provide for the prohibition of social boycott of a person or group of persons including their family members, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
WHEREAS promoting amongst the citizens fraternity, assuring the dignity of individual is enshrined as one of the goal in the Preamble to the Constitution of India;
AND WHEREAS the social boycott of any person or a group of persons is violation of the fundamental rights enshrined in part III of the Constitution;
AND WHEREAS it has been observed that the inhuman practice of social boycott of a person or group of persons including their family members still persists in various parts of the State;
AND WHEREAS it appears that the existing laws have been proved to be not effective in total elimination of the evil of social boycott of a person or group of persons including their family members;
AND WHEREAS it is necessary to prohibit social boycott as a matter of social reform in the interest of public welfare;
AND WHEREAS with a view to ensure that the people in the State live in harmony with their human rights, it is expedient to provide for the prohibition of social boycott of a person or group of persons including their family members, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto;
It is hereby enacted in the Sixty-seventh Year of the Republic of India as follows:-
1. Short title and extent:- (1) This Act may be called the Maharashtra Protection of People from Social Boycott (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2016.
(2) It extends to the whole of the State of Maharashtra.
2. Definitions:- (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—
(a) “Caste Panchayat” means a Committee or a body formed by a group of persons belonging to any community, whether registered or not, which functions within the community to regulate various practices in the same community, controls personal and social behaviour of any member and collectively resolves or decides any disputes amongst its members including their families, by issuing oral or written dictums, whether called as a “panchayat” or a “gavki” or by any other name or description ;
(b) “community” in relation to a Caste Panchayat means a group, the members of which are connected together by reason of the fact that by birth, conversion or the performance of any religious rites or ceremonies, they belong to the same religion or religious creed and includes a caste, sub-caste ;
(c) “Government” or “State Government” means the Government of Maharashtra;
(d) “human rights” shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in clause (d) of section 2 of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993;
(e) “member” means a person who is a member of any community ;
(f) “Social Boycott Prohibition Officer” means any officer of the Government designated by the State Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, under section 15;
(g) “social boycott” means the gesture or an act, whether oral or written, of any social discrimination between the members of the community, specified in section 3;
(h) “victim” means any individual who has suffered or experienced physical or monetary harm or harm to his property as a result of the commission of social boycott and includes his relatives, legal guardian and legal heirs.
(2) Words and expressions used but not defined in this Act and defined in the Indian Penal Code the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 or the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, or as defined in any other law for the time being in force, as the case may be, shall be deemed to have the meanings, respectively, assigned to them in those enactments.
3. Social boycott:- Any member or a group of members who commit any of the following act or acts shall be deemed to have imposed social boycott on a member or members of the community,—
(i) if he prevents or obstructs or causes to prevent or obstructs any member of his community from observing any social or religious custom or usage or ceremony or from taking a part in a social, religious or community functions, congregation, assembly, meeting or procession;
(ii) if he refuses or denies or causes to refuse or deny any member of his community the right to perform marriage, funeral or other religious ceremonies and rites which the members of his own community usually and ordinarily perform;
(iii) if he commits or causes to commit social ostracism on any grounds;
(iv) if he shuns or refuses any member of his community from engaging in the society or cut-of social or commercial ties with such member resulting in making the life of such member miserable;
(v) if he prevents or obstructs or causes to prevent or obstruct any member of his community from having access to or from using any place used or intended to be used for a charitable, religious or public purpose which is established or maintained wholly or partly by his own community for and on behalf of the community out of the funds of such community and is normally available for use to or by any other member of his own community;
(vi) if he prevents or obstructs or causes to prevent or obstruct any member of his community from having access to or using the facilities of any school, educational institution, medical institution, community hall, club hall, cemetery, burial ground or any other place used by, or intended to be used by, or for the benefit of, his community; or any other public place;
(vii) if he prevents or obstructs or causes to prevent or obstruct any member of his community from enjoying any benefit under a charitable trust created for the benefit of his community;
(viii) if he incites or provokes or encourages any member of his community, directly or indirectly, to sever social, religious, professional or business relations with any other member or members of his community;
(ix) if he prevents or obstructs or causes to prevent or obstruct any member of his community from entering, lodging in or otherwise using any place of worship or pilgrimage, which is ordinarily open to the members of his community;
(x) if he prevents or obstructs or causes to prevent or obstruct any member of his community from establishing or maintaining such social, professional or business relations as he would ordinarily establish or maintain with other members of his community;
(xi) if he prevents or obstructs or causes to prevent or obstruct any children of his community from playing together with the children of specific family or families in the community;
(xii) if he obstructs or denies or causes to obstruct or deny any member of his community from enjoying human rights;
(xiii) if he discriminates or causes to discriminate amongst the members of the community on the basis of morality, social acceptance, political inclination, sexuality or any other basis;
(xiv) if he creates or causes to create cultural obstacle or compel any member of his community to wear any particular type of clothes or use any specific language;
(xv) if he expels or causes to expel any member of his community from the said community; and
(xvi) if he commits any other similar acts which amount to social boycott.