Villagers ostracize gang-rape victim
Print Edition
A 20-YEAR-OLD Indian woman who was gang-raped on the orders of a village court has been placed under police protection, along with her family, and will be relocated after being ostracized by villagers, officials said yesterday.
The case has made waves in India, underscoring how sexual violence has become a huge social and political issue after the rape and murder of a physiotherapist on a moving bus in Delhi in December 2012, an attack that sparked nationwide demonstrations.
The woman, recovering in hospital, told police she was assaulted last Monday night in the Birbhum district of West Bengal state in eastern India as punishment for having a relationship with a man from a different community. Police have arrested 13 men suspected of involvement.
“The girl wants to go back to another village where her uncle lives in the same district,” West Bengal Women and Child Welfare Minister Shashi Panja said. “She is scared of going back to the village where she was gang-raped since the villagers there do not want her back. The girl’s family is also under protection of the police now.”
Many villagers have denied the girl was raped, according to local media reports.
The case has highlighted the prevalence of kangaroo village courts that are not uncommon in rural regions. In northern parts of India, these illegal de-facto courts settle cases ranging from land disputes to murder cases.
Such councils are coming under growing scrutiny as their punitive edicts grow more regressive — ranging from banning women from wearing Western clothing to sanctioning the lynching of young couples in so-called “honor killings.”
Police said the woman’s male companion was tied up in the village square, while the assault on the woman was taking place in a mud house. The man is missing, relatives say.
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