A khap panchayat in Uttar Pradesh has issued a diktat that a Dalit woman and her sister should be raped and paraded naked in their village as revenge for their brother’s action of eloping with a married girl from the Jat community.
Fearing for her life, the 23-year-old woman has moved the Supreme Court, seeking protection for herself and her family.
Petitioner Meena (name changed), a resident of a village in Baghpat district, alleged that under pressure from the girl’s family the local police foisted a false narcotics case against her brother. Even though a local court gave him bail, the family was too scared to go back to the village to arrange surety documents to secure his release.
A bench headed by Justice J Chelameswar issued a notice to Uttar Pradesh Police, which Meena has accused of being hand-in-glove with the dominant Jat community. The court has asked the state police to respond to Meena’s plea for a CBI probe into the incident.
Meena’s advocate Vivek Singh told HT: “On July 30, the Jat community held a khap panchayat and decided to avenge the dishonour. The petitioner has been condemned to be raped and paraded naked after blackening their faces only because her brother fell in love and eloped with her friend. The family can never return.”
{{/usCountry}}Meena’s advocate Vivek Singh told HT: “On July 30, the Jat community held a khap panchayat and decided to avenge the dishonour. The petitioner has been condemned to be raped and paraded naked after blackening their faces only because her brother fell in love and eloped with her friend. The family can never return.”
{{/usCountry}}According to the petitioner, her brother and the girl were in love for the past three years. The girl was, however, married off to a Jat boy against her wishes in February this year.
A month after her marriage, the girl escaped from her matrimonial home and eloped with the petitioner’s brother. But, following alleged torture by the girl’s family members and UP police the couple surrendered. While the girl, who said she was pregnant with her lover’s child, was sent back to her parents, the boy was arrested under the false drug case.
Under threat, Meena’s family moved to Delhi after which their house in the native place was allegedly ransacked and taken over by the Jat community.