In this Andhra Pradesh village, women are fined Rs 2000 for wearing nighties before sunset

West Godavari: Women in Tokalapalli village of Andhra Pradesh’s West Godavari district are forbidden to wear nighties during the daytime. It is because the elders of the village have decided that no woman should wear nighties from 7 am to 7 pm. If someone is found not following the ‘rule’, a fine of Rs 2000 will be imposed on her.

Furthermore, a ‘prize’ of Rs. 1000 has been earmarked for the person who informs village elders about women not adhering to the dress code. It is being said that the money which will be collected through fines will be used for the development of the village, which comprises of 11,000 families and has a population of 36,000 people.

After reports of the new rule surfaced in local media, village’s Tehsildar Sundar Raju and police sub-inspector Vijay Kumar visited the area to analyse the situation. However, to their surprise, no woman came forward to oppose the decision. In fact, a woman in the village, while speaking to the media, said that there has been no such decision of fining the women. “It’s just a rumour,” said Saraswati.

“In fact, women in the village have taken a decision not to wear night dress in the daytime and informed the elders in the village. It was then that they gave a specific time frame. But there is no such rule to collect fines from women,” she said. Another villager, Krishna Kumari, said that they are “very happy” to follow the rules which were created by all the women in the village. “We all collectively took this decision to respect and follow our tradition,” she added.