AHMEDABAD: Kunwar Koli in Rapar town of Kutch district of Gujarat spent the day fighting to get her daughters back on Sunday. They were forcibly taken away by her brother Popat Koli as part of an ancient barter system called Sata Pata .

Popat took his nieces ignoring a local court’s order against it. One of them is a minor.

The girls are to be married in a mass wedding ceremony on Monday against their own will. The ceremony is likely to be attended by state ministers Purshottam Solanki and Liladhar Vaghela.

The Sata Pata barter system is a medieval practice still prevalent in some parts of Gujarat. Popat is forcing his nieces to marry into the family of a community leader who has promised him brides in exchange for his sons. The sex ratio in the community is severely lopsided due to female feticide.

This case od Sata Pata is rare and the police along with other authorities found out about it. The local court has issued a search warrant for the girls.

Kunwar also accused Popat of sending her daughters to a construction sites as labourers and taking away their earnings. "I have not seen my daughters for the past year," she said, adding, "How can they do this? Is there no justice for a mother?"

Kunwar has taken refuge in the office of Ahmedabad Women 's Action Group (AWAG) in Rapar with her other two daughters for the past two days after being threatened.

A saltpan worker, Kunwar was thrown out of her house by her husband for giving birth to only daughters. Popat threw her out 18 months back but took away the nieces.

"We asked the police and community leaders to prevent the weddings. The community leader, in whose family he girls were to be married said he does not know the whereabouts of Popat and the girls," said Chinmayee Sejal Joshi, rural director of AWAG.

AWAG director Ila Pathak said, "I have called up the minister of state for home Rajnikant Patel to ensure that the court’s orderis not violated."