Visitors to this village, situated in Narsinghpur district, have to produce a form of identity proof, like an Aadhaar card, to gain entry. Only after the identity of a person is verified, they are allowed entry into the village. As the rumours of child-lifters started circulating, the Kotwar (village worker) with the help of a few villagers came up with this solution.
Kotwar Sewakaram Chadar visited the houses in the area and urged the inhabitants to be alert about the rumours and advised them against sharing unverified posts on social media. He said the exercise is being carried out to make the residents more aware and observant. He stated that while it helps keep a check on the rumours, it also helps them track down the accused and inform the police.
Residents of the village said that the exercise of verifying a stranger's identity has given them the much-needed peace of mind.
Jitendra Lodhi, a resident, said this rule was implemented in the village after rumours of child-lifters started circulating on social media. He added that when the idea was proposed by Sewakaram, the inhabitants unanimously agreed to implement the rule.
Another resident Amit Singh said that while they had to prevent potential miscreants from entering the village, they also had to make sure that relatives and friends of the inhabitants are allowed. This is when they came up with the idea of using documents of identity proof to let visitors into the village.
Even the district administration has praised the awareness and ingenuity of the inhabitants to tackle the issue. They are also planning to launch a campaign and implement it in other villages of the district.
District Magistrate Manoj Thakur commended the arrangement where the Kotwar of the village has the information of outsiders. He said when an outsider, who is visiting their relatives in the village, doesn't have their identity proof, there is a mechanism to get them verified with the help of their relatives in the village.
( With inputs from IANS )