The rights group Amnesty International has called on Indian
authorities to ensure the safety of two young women after their
local village council ordered them to be raped and paraded
naked after their brother eloped with a married woman.
The unelected all-male village council in Baghpat, Uttar
Pradesh, on July 30 ordered that a woman, 23, and her sister,
15, be raped and paraded naked with their faces blackened after
their brother ran away with a woman from the village’s
dominant Jat caste.
The sisters and their family, from the lower Dalit caste, have
since fled the village and are hiding in New Delhi.
Earlier this month, the older sister filed a petition before India’s
Supreme Court seeking protection for her family so they can
return to their home.
On August 18, the Supreme Court ordered Uttar Pradesh
authorities to reply to the petition by September 15.
But one of their brothers told Amnesty: “After we went to the
Supreme Court, the villagers are even more aggressive.”
“In the panchayat [council], the Jat decision is final. They don’t
listen to us. The police don’t listen to us. The police said
anyone can be murdered now,” he said.
Amnesty said the sisters’ father has also lodged a complaint
with the National Human Rights Commission and the National
Commission for Scheduled Castes, alleging harassment by the
police and the dominant caste family.
It said the family were also concerned for the safely of the Jat
woman who eloped with the brother.