(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-
(a) "Caste Panchayat" means a Committee or a body formed by a group of persons belonging to any community, whether registered or not, which functions within the community to regulate various practices in the same community, controls personal and social behaviour of any member and collectively resolves or decides any disputes amongst its members including their families, by issuing oral or written dictums, whether called as a "panchayat" or a "gavki" or by any other name or description;
(b) "community" in relation to a Caste Panchayat means a group, the members of which are connected together by reason of the fact that by birth, conversion or the performance of any religious rites or ceremonies, they belong to the same religion or religious creed and includes a caste, sub-caste ;
(c) "Government" or "State Government" means the Government of Maharashtra;
(d) "human rights" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in clause (d) of section 2 of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 (10 of 1994);
(e) "member" means a person who is a member of any community ;
(f) "Social Boycott Prohibition Officer" means any officer of the Government designated by the State Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, under section 15;
(g) "social boycott" means the gesture or an act, whether oral or written, of any social discrimination between the members of the community, specified in section 3;
(h) "victim" means any individual who has suffered or experienced physical or monetary harm or harm to his property as a result of the commission of social boycott and includes his relatives, legal guardian and legal heirs.
(2) Words and expressions used but not defined in this Act and defined in the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860), the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (1 of 1872), the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974) or the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 (10 of 1994), or as defined in any other law for the time being in force, as the case may be, shall be deemed to have the meanings, respectively, assigned to them in those enactments.