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AGRA: Blaming mobile phones for "corrupting" girls, a panchayat in an Aligarh village has announced a complete ban on use of the devices by girls younger than 18. Moreover, families of violators will be punished by having to sweep village roads..

 The decision was announced by the panchayat of Basauli village in Gonda block of Iglas tehsil in the district and ironically comes at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious project of connecting each citizen with smartphones under Digital India initiative has just started. A khap panchayat of Basauli village, located more than 80km from Agra, in its order said that unmarried girls of the village were not to use mobile phones or social media. If caught, their parents would have to sweep the village roads for 500m for five days, or pay hefty penalties of up to Rs 1,000.

 "Girls get spoiled and get involved in relationships with boys at a young age because they use phones. This further leads to crime against them. In our times, there were no such problems, but this technology has spoiled them and we needed to curb it," said panchayat coordinator Ramveer Singh, talking to TOI. "In a meeting of village elders and other men, it was decided that several teams will keep a tab on girls carrying phones," he added.

 This is the latest in a series of rulings by panchayats prohibiting mobile phones, modern clothes or other items among girls. A village council in Barmer, Rajasthan last year had banned use of mobile phones by girls in the village. In 2014, a khap panchayat in Muzaffarnagar had similarly banned mobile phones, jeans and other "western" items among girls and young women in the village. Other panchayats in UP had also issued such orders over the years.

 Apart from ban on use of phone by girls, the Basauli panchayat also ordered a complete ban on liquor sale and consumption. If anyone was found selling or drinking liquor, he too would have to clean village roads. The panchayat asked villagers to refrain from approaching the police to lodge an FIR and instead contact the panchayat to resolve every kind of dispute.

 As per panchayat members, two committees have been formed with five and seven members respectively. The second committee will keep an eye on the activities of every villager and report any illegal activity to the first committee, which will take further action accordingly.