Ranchi, June 21 (IANS) A panchayat in Jharkhand has fined four women Rs.9,000 each for cremating their mother-in-law, saying they intruded into a male domain.
The four women cremated 78-year-old Patia Kuwar of Gareriadih village in Palamau district who died after falling into a ditch late Friday.
As none of her sons were in the village, the daughters-in-law — Sharda, Prabha, Malti and Nirmala — carried the dead woman home and requested the villagers to carry her body to the cremation ground.
But everyone refused as the body was stinking.
The four women then carried the dead mother-in-law on their shoulders and performed the last rites Saturday.
But the village elders, all males, were not impressed. The panchayat directed the villagers not to attend the post-death ceremonies and fined the women who had no choice but to pay up.
