Two sisters, who belong to a village in Baghpat district, Uttar Pradesh where the khap panchayat ordered that they be raped and paraded naked, their faces blackened, as punishment for the actions of their brother.
Amnesty International has started a campaign to sign a petition called ‘Two sisters to be raped as punishment – demand justice’. The petition says:
Your eyes do not deceive you. An unelected all-male village council in India has ordered that 23-year-old Meenakshi Kumari and her 15-year-old sister are raped. The ‘sentence’ was handed down as punishment after their brother eloped with a married woman. They also ordered for the sisters to be paraded naked with blackened faces. Nothing could justify this abhorrent punishment. It’s not fair. It’s not right. And it’s against the law. Demand that the local authorities intervene immediately.
These are the same Khaps who have in the recent past have passed diktats that range from banning on eating chowmein and use of mobile phones to debarring DJs and, of course, eye shades. Some have even demanded to repeal legislation that gives women the right to paternal property.
The Supreme Court of India has described khaps as ‘kangaroo courts’ and have been declared illegal and unconstitutional in India in 2011 but still continue to serve as judge and jury in areas where local governments are located too far away to be effective.
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