Rinku Chauhan was four and her sister Jayashree all of two months when they were married to two brothers in their village of Sukarlai in Rohat tehsil of Rajasthan by their grandmother and the elders of the caste. Rinku’s parents, who were not present at the ceremony, refused to accept the wedding. They decided to take on the panch, a body of elderly men within a caste, which takes decisions on a range of matters.

This rebellion led to the caste leaders announcing a social boycott (‘hooka-pani band, or the stopping of shared resources’). It has now been 26 years. The social boycott means that no member of their caste, including distant and close relatives, is allowed to interact with the family. The family has not been invited to weddings or death ceremonies all these years. No one in the village has any economic association with them.