An Orissa man paid a heavy price for his daughter’s elopement with her paramour. He paid Rs 1 lakh to his son-in-law’s family as per the decision taken by his own Ganda tribal community. According to reports, Devaki Sunani, 24, the daughter of Ananta Sunani of Chakamal village, had in married Basindhar Bag of Mudagelamal village in Chhattisgarh in May.

On July 21, Devaki called her father and asked him to take her to Nabarangpur for a regular medical checkup. Although her in-laws insisted that she undergo the checkup at Mainpur, she convinced them that Nabarangpur had better medical facilities.

On July 22 night, Devaki was resting with her husband at her father’s house. At around midnight, she went outside and did not return. When she did not return, her husband informed his father-in-law. Some of Devaki’s friends revealed in the morning that she had eloped with her lover Pratap Bag.

When the news about Devaki’s elopement reached her in-laws, they approached the Ganda Samaj for a solution. The Ganda Samaj asked the woman’s father Ananta to pay `1 lakh compensation in two instalments — Rs 65,000 and Rs 35,000.

Ananta has paid the first instalment and returned the gold necklace that Devaki’s in-laws had given her during marriage. The second instalment of `35,000, according to the Ganga Samaj ruling, will be cleared after the in-laws return the furniture and other dowry items they received from Ananta’s family during the marriage ceremony.