Three youngsters from Maharashtra’s Kanjarbhat Community were brutally thrashed by over 40 people while attending a wedding on Sunday night in Bhat Nagar, located in Pune’s Pimpri Chinchwad area. The trio were targeted for their association with the Whatsapp group, ‘Stop The V-Rituals’, that aims to raise awareness about virginity tests being practiced by the Kanjarbhat community even today.
The incident took place at about 11:30 pm on Sunday when 25-year-old Prashant Indrekar, 17-year-old Sourabh Macchle and 23-year-old Prashant Tamchikar were attending a wedding they were invited to.
Just as we were about to leave the wedding venue, a group of around 40-45 people attacked us. First they started beating me up as I was alone but when my friends intervened to save me, they too were thrashed. They beat us up with chairs, their belts and even pelted stones at us. We somehow just ran for our lives.Sourabh Macchle, victim
Prashant Indrekar recounted that the assaulters, who belong to the same community, kept telling him that they were wrong to start a movement against Virginity tests on social media.
We rushed out of the place and reached the Pimpri Chinchwad police station at about 12:30 am and filed a complaint by around 5 am. We have named five people in the FIR but have also told the police in detail about over 40 others who attacked us together.Prashant Indrekar, victim
The Kanjarbhat community have been practicing virginity tests for decades. The regressive ritual unfolds on the night of the wedding when the newly wed groom is given a white bed sheet. The next morning members of the caste Panchayat and the families of the bride and groom inspect the bed sheet for blood.
The day after the wedding, the entire caste panchayat gathers with other members of the village and ask the groom if the bride was ‘fine’. If the girl is a virgin, the boy says, ‘maal khara’ (good product) three times. If the bride is not a virgin, she is asked who she lost her virginity to and both are penalised.Siddhant Indrekar, a youth belonging to the community
Failure to practice the ritual results in families of the newlyweds being penalised and the young couple being socially boycotted.
“If educated people like us cannot say ‘no’ and change the system, then what option to the uneducated have?” asked Aruna Indrekar, who refused to undergo these rituals when she got married. As a result, Aruna and her husband – Krishna, were boycotted by the community in 1996.
Despite the setbacks that the youth from the Kanjarbhat community have faced ever since their movement began, they refuse to cower down in the face of violence, threats and pressure from the caste Panchayat members.
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