Mahapanchayat in Haryana’s Nagina imposes ₹21,000 fine for his actions that triggered communal tension

An all-community mahapanchayat in Nagina here issued a diktat for a private schoolteacher to be hit with a shoe 11 times, besides being fined ₹21,000 and directed to stay outside the town for three months. The reason: he had allegedly shared objectionable Facebook posts that hurt the religious sentiments of a minority community.

‘Don’t enter the town’

Former sarpanch Subhash Chand Gupta, 71, who headed the mahapanchayat, said the young man’s actions had sparked communal tension in the town after the matter surfaced on Tuesday evening. A panchayat had to be convened to bring the situation under control, he said.

“The actions of the young man had the potential to unleash communal riots. It was, therefore, decided that all communities must come together to resolve the matter,” said Mr. Gupta, a two-time sarpanch.

Over 1,000 residents from both the Hindu and Muslim communities attended the panchayat on Wednesday. Nagina has almost equal number of houses belonging to both religious communities.

Money donated to temple

Sarpanch Naseem Khan, who was also part of the panchayat, said that it was unanimously decided to impose a fine of ₹21,000 on the young man and hit him with a shoe. “An elderly person from the young man’s community hit him with a shoe 11 times after he admitted to his mistake. He has also been told not to enter the town for three months,” said Mr. Khan.

The family of the young man paid the fine at the spot, which the panchayat donated to a temple in the village.

Mr. Gupta said the town had a long history of communal harmony, and that the community could not afford to allow the “irresponsible” behaviour of a young man to disturb it. “I was sarpanch in 1992 as well, but we did not allow the atmosphere in the town to be vitiated. Many people from outside the town tried to instigate communal tension by damaging religious spots. But both the communities came together and did not allow them to succeed,” said Mr. Gupta. He added that since the matter had been amicably resolved, the matter was not reported to the police.

No case registered

Deputy Commissioner (Nuh) Mani Ram Sharma said that he came to know about the incident on Thursday, but had not received any formal complaint so far. “In case a complaint is made to the administration, we will deal with it as per the law,” said Mr. Sharma.