India, July 18 -- Around 300 members of Gujarat's Kodarvi tribe have returned to their native Mota Pipodara village in Banaskantha, 11 years after they fled following a murder, fearing collective punishment under Chadotara, a conflict resolution system in some tribal areas.

A village council invoked Chadotara and held the Kodarvis responsible for the murder of a man at a late-night gathering of four friends from the Dabhi, Thakor, and Kodarvi communities in 2014. Twenty-nine Kodarvi families fearing violence soon fled Mota Pipodara, leaving behind 8.5 hectares of farmland and their homes. "The houses fell into disrepair. The land was taken over and cultivated by members of the other community," said additional police superintendent (Bana...