Supporting the panchayat, a villager said that, many times the outsiders lure the locals in a relationship in order to get married so that later they can become residents of the village thus in order to stop this practice or trend the village panchayat has passed a resolution against anyone marrying the migrants. The same is applicable for those who marry someone from the same village. “This trend of getting married to outsiders and intra-village is not appreciated by the villagers,” said another villager. The panchayat has also decided not to support anyone found indulging in drug peddling as no villager will stand as witness or arrange for bail of anyone involved in drug-related cases. Sukhchain Singh, the husband of village sarpanch Ranvir Kaur, says, “there is an immediate need of this as there is a market near the village where many migrants from other states are now residing and many marriages between migrants and women in the village have taken place. The girl is considered the daughter of the village thus we passed this resolution as all panchayat members and local supported it, but our decision has been misrepresented.” The village has approximately 3,500 voters, of which nearly 300 are migrants from other states who now reside here. This is not the first incident regarding restrictions on migrants. During the recent panchayat elections in several villages migrants had filed nomination papers to stand as sarpanch candidates, resulting in confrontation; in Rhode village, Moga, a migrant candidate contested in the polls but lost. On August 24, announcements were made in Kaudi village in Khanna via loudspeakers prohibiting the entry of migrants into the village. Locals were also advised not to rent homes to migrants or sell land to them. The police then intervened and resolved the issue. On August 11, the panchayat of Jandpur village in SAS Nagar erected large hoardings stating that migrants could not be seen outside their homes after 9 pm. The Punjab government faced reprimand from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which resulted in the removal of the hoardings. In neighboring state of Haryana, the khap panchayats (caste councils) had in July last year had submitted a representation to the then Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, seeking amendment of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, and declaring intra-gotra and intra-village marriages invalid in public interest.
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