SundayReview|Editorial A Ghastly Injustice in India By THE EDITORIAL BOARDFEB. 1, 2014 Yet another horrific gang rape has grabbed headlines in India. This time, a village council in the Indian state of West Bengal ordered the rapes as punishment. The crime: falling in love and planning to marry. The couple was nabbed after the young man went to the young woman’s home with a proposal of marriage. In the all-male council’s eyes, such a union between a Muslim man and an Adivasi woman — perfectly legal under Indian law — was unacceptable. Hauled to the village square, the man and woman were ordered to pay a fine of 27,000 Indian rupees each. When the 20-year-old woman’s family protested it was too poor to pay, the council ordered the woman raped as punishment. Thirteen men, including the village chief, are alleged to have raped the woman. In rural India, village councils, known as khap panchayats, routinely mete out such horrific punishments. Couples discovered in relationships of which councils do not approve even risk being murdered in so-called honor killings. India’s rapid modernization has given young women enhanced opportunities and freedoms, which these self-appointed guardians of patriarchal tradition view as a grave threat. In response, they have cracked down, banning women’s use of cellphones, dictating conservative dress codes and even condemning women’s education. Fortunately, reaction to this latest example of village justice has been swift. The alleged perpetrators have been arrested. India’s Supreme Court has ordered an investigation into the incident and scheduled a hearing. The full weight of India’s law must be brought down on the perpetrators. Authorities must also provide protection for the victim and her family. On Dec. 23, 2013, a gang-rape victim near Kolkata died after being set on fire by two of her accused rapists after she reported the crime to police. The gang rape of a college student in New Delhi in December 2012 has sensitized an outraged Indian public to violence against women. The Justice Verma Committee, set up in the wake of that assault, defined the orders of khap panchayats as illegal, and urged the government to crack down. Even so, ending kangaroo justice by village councils will not be easy. In the district of Muzaffarnagar, the village khap panchayat has vowed it will stop police from arresting individuals accused of committing gang rape during sectarian violence that broke out there last September. Indian authorities must not back down. These brazen affronts to the rule of law not only destroy lives but do grievous harm to India’s democracy. Meet The New York Times’s Editorial Board » A version of this editorial appears in print on February 2, 2014, on page SR10 of the New York edition with the headline: A Ghastly Injustice in India. Order Reprints|Todays Paper|Subscribe
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 06:06:01 +0000
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