kolhapur moved by the plight of 12 women who had lost their husbands to covid19 the gram panchayat of kolhapurs herwad village has unanimously passed a resolution to do away with all widow customs which included a range of restrictions imposed on widows from not being allowed to wear bright and colourful clothes jewellery and fashion items to being considered unlucky and being barred from family functions and celebrationssome of the widows were childless while others had kids aged up to 12 like the abolition of sati and giving widows the right to remarry this villages ban on widow customs is being seen as a revolutionary step by social expertssurgonda patil sarpanch of herwad said weve initiated various steps for the welfare of the women who lost their husbands to covid we have extended monetary help of rs 5000 for the education of each of their children now we felt it was time to end the widows ostracism we did not feel it was right to force young women to live a life of confinement or being considered unholy or someone who brings bad luckthe proposal was tabled and seconded by women panchayat members on thursday almost all religions have some customs that widowed women are expected to follow some common customs include giving up bright clothes and staying away from family functions pramod zinjade an activist from karmala town in solapur is leading the campaign to ban widow customs or bring in an amendment to the antisuperstition and black magic act to make such customs a crime were approaching the mlas to raise the issue of widow customs in the assembly session there is no legal protection for women who are subjected to such practices zinjade told toi zinjade has also written a will and submitted it to the taluka magistrate specifying that if he were to die his wife should not be forced to follow widow customs