Jency Jacob, Mumbai: Leaders of the Sindhi community in Bhopal issued a fatwa against their women which said that girls will not be allowed to carry mobile phones, two-wheelers and that they will not be able to cover the face with scarves.

However, the cosmopolitan members of the Sindhi community are fuming over this fatwa. “It’s ridiculous. I understand there are conservative elements in each community but I don’t think that India or the world should bother about such people,” Mumbai resident Niranjan Hiranandani says.

The ‘panchayat’ justifies fatwa as a “rightful step” in the wake of growing inter-religious marriages taking place among Sindhi society. The most recent case of a Sindhi girl Priyanka "defying norms" to wed to a Muslim boy, Omar has caught the public eye. However, the forward-looking Sindhis are astonished to see all the hue and cry over such a trivial issue.

“There are so many important issues to address than passing judgments on whether a Sindhi girl should get married to a Muslim or not. The kind of communalism going on here is completely bizarre,” says Socialite & Fashion Designer Haseena Jethmalani.

Most of the Sindhi’s feel that such ‘panchayats’ are best be ignored since that they have no right to impose rules and regulation on anyone.

“Panchayat is just like a social body which is there to see that we celebrate our festivals and rituals. We don’t have any leaders to tell us as such what to do and what not to do,” says Shobha Jangiani.

While the inter-religion marriages have led to a furor in Bhopal, Sindhis in Mumbai are keen to distance themselves from such moves. Most of them believe that such fatwas are only sullying the image of a progressive community.