metropolitan magistrate court

social excommunication

Social Boycott

rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar

Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti

Hume Memorial Congregation Church in Byculla; Nandan Gaikwad, complainant (inset)

Madhukar Sohalkar allegedly barred them from church’s activities after a dispute 4 yrs ago. Case to be tried under anti-social boycott law.Thehas ordered that criminal proceedings be initiated against a Byculla church’s priest for allegedly ordering his congregants to boycott some members over a dispute.Any act ofis punishable under the Maharashtra Prohibition of People from(Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2016. Around 40 cases have so far been filed under this Act in Maharashtra.Madhukar Sitaram Sohalkar, the priest of a Protestant church, Hume Memorial Congregation Church, in Byculla, allegedly ordered the boycott of Dadar resident Nandan Gaikwad, 60, Sarla Kharat, Prakash Jagrap, Shailendra Waghmare, Sanjay Thorat, Rajesh Gangurde and Dilip Khandagale four years ago. After the Byculla police allegedly refused to register an FIR, they approached Mukta Dabholkar, daughter of lateand Nandkishor Talashilkar, chief secretary of, and filed a private complaint in court in July last year.According to the complaint, Gaikwad, Kharat, Jagrap, Waghmare, Thorat, Gangurde and Khandagale became members of the church’s managing committee in 2010. Owing to a fund crunch and a property dispute, the committee could not organise annual general meetings (AGMs) from 2012-15. It rented out the premises for make up for the shortage.In 2013, Sohalkar was brought in as the church’s priest. In February 2015, the managing committee decided to conduct the AGM of 2011-12 but the plan fell through after Sohalkar accused Gaikwad, who was then the secretary of the managing committee, of misplacing the minutes book of the previous AGM. Gaikwad claimed that the previous secretary had failed to hand over the book to him when he took over in 2010. He then filed an FIR over the missing minutes book.But according to the private complaint, the matter didn’t end at that. Sohalkar allegedly ordered that he and his supporters be boycotted-—they were barred from reading the Bible and collecting offerings during prayers. Sohalkar also appointed new managing committee without dissolving the existing one, and refused to accept the annual membership fees of those boycotted, in effect, pushing them out of the congregation.Gaikwad hailed the court’s decision to prosecute Sohalkar. “This would be the first case against a church priest under the Act. This is an important case for our community. It will give a clear message that everyone is equal before the law,” he said.