A 20-year old girl was allegedly “ordered to be gang-raped”, yes you read that correctly, ordered to be gang-raped, as punishment for having an affair with a man of a different community. Of course it is not known yet if the ‘man from a different community’ was handed out any similar punishment.
Anyways…
“The girl was initially slapped a fine of Rs. 50,000” says the news item. “The gang-rape was ordered after the family said they would not be able to pay the fine.” (link to the news)
Do you get the feeling that you are living in some barbaric times of some long gone era? I certainly do, even though the year is 2014. I hear people say repeatedly that I live in “modern” times and that too in a country whose people are supposed to have been civilized when others were still living on trees and in caves. I certainly have my doubts about that. Which civilized society metes out such outrageous, and utterly inhuman punishment to a fellow human?
Imagine that. There are actually people living in the here and now, who think ‘gang-rape’ is a fitting form of “punishment” against a perceived wrong committed by a woman. No, they are not random people with individual agenda of some revenge or other. They call themselves ‘salisha sabha’ (some sort of self styled kangaroo court) and have power vested in them to make rulings on supposed misdeeds in their village. How much more dangerous can it get?
What is more astounding is that there are those willing to do the bidding of the ‘salisha sabha’ and volunteer to rape for punishment. What sort of beasts are they, willing to take on such a ‘job’? Do they consider themselves ‘noble’ souls for they were raping only as a means to ‘teach a lesson (sic) to a 20 year old’? What do their families think of them? Do they think of them as heroes, that it was all being done only in the line of duty? I will tell you what I think of them: scum, vermin, criminals, nothing more, nothing less.
Shame on the whole lot, the ones who passed judgment and those who eagerly jumped in to enforce the same. Shame on those who failed to take action quickly enough. Pity we live in such tolerant times. Or else, the ‘salisha sabhas’ and its minions could be shut up in a dungeon with a fire-breathing dragon to do the honors, and the keys thrown away.
Shail's Nest 
i read the above mentioned piece of news too….the girl was shattered when the familiar faces who she had called kakka or dada or bhai throughout her life unleashed this brutality on her…how barbaric …its a psychopathic society out there
That really hit me too. That also shows what the kakas, dadas and bhais will be ready to do if/when the opportunity is given them. Sick society.
I feel numb.. do not know how to react .. I cannot imagine this happening …….
I agree.
I just heard this on the news in the UK… I’m speechless that ANYONE could consider this acceptable, irrespective of nationality, religion or gender. What can we do?
As shocking as it may seem, even the women of the village are supporting the action. This must be the situation in other places too. Changing mindsets is the biggest challenge.
Wow! and not one of the men who were asked to punish her in this manner every refused or protested against it? Just Wow!! Shows how Independent we really are, how capable of wielding our freedoms we really are, after 67 years of supposedly being an Independent Country. I think I need to find another country to file my citizenship with.
Yes, how come they were so willing to mete out this particular punishment? Why don’t people think of that for a change?
As if rape is equivalent to a monetary fine. I would rather be whipped or caned, frankly. It would suck, but not like this. Do men get that as an alternative?
That’s a question the salisha sabha and likes should answer for us.
I too read that or at least started to but couldn’t carry on. Have we become so permissive in reaching for tolerance that we are willing to accept this is ok in some cultures but not in others. Sorry, I don’t get it.
Tough, very tough to get how this can happen. Thanks for visiting and the comment.
This is just plain horrible. I read this and the news of Tarun Tejpal thinking he should ge bail as the girl he sexually assaulted was ‘modern’, just made me realise how much more work needs to be done before this STOPS.
We have too long a way to go.
It’s unbelievable that ‘justice’ of this sort is meted out, and as you point out there are plenty ready to mete it out too. How on earth are these sort of kangaroo courts allowed to function, is beyond me.
Makes you wonder which century you are living in, if the same law applies to all 😦
…and of course nobody else said or did anything!
Yes, that too.
It’s time there is a campaign in villages about the basic rights of women, and of men for that matter. These idiotic ideas generally come from upper class old men who dominate everyone else. It’s ridiculous.
you know Fem the shocking thing here , this is not upper class lower class conflict. It is among a tribe. It is a santhal village. Every one here is a santhal. Last I heard, could not confirm though, that tribal women were empowered in their own societies. But see the degradation.. Unimaginable..
and also the women folk defending the punishment and carrying out a rally. these women are of the same tribe..
That’s the saddest part, isn’t it?
yes the saddest thing of all…
Awareness of basic rights. Yes,that’s absolutely necessary.
the latest news is that the villagers are defending the ‘punishment’…including women. it can’t get more grassroot than this…and at this level, things are so screwed up. there is no moral compass at an individual level, and at a community level. it’s unfathomable.
That is what bothers me so much, how women defend such punishments. Unfathomable, indeed.
Disgusting!Truly shameful.
Really so! 😦
😦 Our species is the most twisted.
Looks so definitely. 😦
Did these men met out the punishment and go home to their families. did the families let them in? if a family member of mine came home after raping someone as a punishment, i think he would have got a cup of hot coffee with some cyanide thrown in from me !!!! disgusting.
The women of the village supported the punishment. How sad is that! And disgusting too.
I first thought may be its some taliban kind of punishment. When I read the news I was speechless. Many r secretly terrorizing the world. These ppl r dangerous than terrorists who are equipped with bombs and weapons!
SHAME is all I can say
It is really shameful. 😦
Barbaric times indeed and barbaric men roaming around, all in the guise of sabhas and dark hooded buses, trying to rape and kill women !!! As you rightly said, these men ought to be frying in hell !! My kind of punishment would be to cut off that men’s organ…my blood boils when I read of rapes !!!
Yes, anger and helplessness is what one feels.