Sisters in India sentenced to rape for brother's crime

[NewOrleans]

NO FUCKING WAY


from Jezebel 

On July 30, 23-year old Meenakshi Kumari and her 15-year-old sister were sentenced to be gang-raped by a group of village elders in the Baghpat district. The sisters weren’t convicted of any crimes, rather their sentence was punishment for their brother’s elopement. Vice reports:

[The sisters] were told that their faces would be blackened and they would be raped and paraded naked in front of their neighbors by a council based in Uttar Pradesh, northern India. Kumari then petitioned the Indian Supreme Court to protect her and her family, which is of the Dalit caste — the lowest in India’s hierarchy. Members of the caste were previously referred to as “untouchables.” The word Dalit means “oppressed.”

The woman their brother eloped with is of the higher Jat caste.
The sisters’ case has obviously sparked international outrage. Amnesty International began a petition decrying the sentence and demanding justice for the sisters. Amnesty notes that the punishment was handed down by an “unelected, all-male” council. Those councils operate outside of the official legal system, yet they remain deeply influential in parts of India.

Via Amnesty:

“Sumit Kumar, another brother of Meenakshi says that members of the Jat caste are powerful members of the village council, ‘the Jat decision is final’.

His family fears for their lives if they return.

Meenakshi has filed a petition with the Supreme Court asking for protection, and her father has lodged a complaint with two national bodies saying that both his family has been harassed not just by the family of the eloped woman (who are of the dominant caste and, therefore influential), but also by the police.”
India’s Supreme Court routinely throws out decisions made by village councils (called khap courts), which they have declared illegal, so the Supreme Court remains the sisters’ best chance for protection. Amnesty told Vice that the “government...has an urgent duty to keep this family safe.”

[erbear]

How can this possibly be a thing? What's the reasoning behind it? Christ. I fucking can't.

[jln]

This is so horrifying. I read about it yesterday and could not believe these poor girls are having to fear being raped as punishment for someone else's doing. I'm glad that Amnesty has intervened. I hope that these girls are able to be kept safe.

[Michelle]

Aug 29, 2015 20:13:26 GMT -5 erbear said:

How can this possibly be a thing? What's the reasoning behind it? Christ. I fucking can't.

Think Black slave of brutal slave owner in 1800 ran away with a white woman , albeit a low class poor white woman. So the plantation owners rape the man's sisters to make sure no other slave ever even thinks of pulling that shit again.

Because that level of fucked upness is what the low end of the caste system is like in India.

[anastasia517]

I can't believe that this is a real story. The fact that this is an actual sentence being given to two young women for something their brother did is absolutely horrifying. I am struggling to wrap my head around this and to come up with something coherent or meaningful.

[ttt]

This is not even the first time something like this has happened.

www.ryot.org/indian-village-sentenced-woman-gang-rape-13-men-falling-love/545173

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2380817/Indian-woman-24-forcibly-married-gang-raped-honour-punishment-brother-eloped-village-girl.html

Here where it was a 14 year old sentenced to be raped (and she was)
www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2014/07/15/331347739/why-a-village-leader-ordered-the-rape-of-a-14-year-old-in-india

Here it was a ten year old girl
www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/asia/article4144286.ece



And of course there was the Muhktar Mai case in Pakistan.

It is a f'ed up culture.

[irishbride2]

They can come live with me. Seriously.

I hate the world .

[cville]

I don't have any words.

[gretchenindisguise]

Game of Thrones, is that you?

[Deleted]

I can't even.
I am seriously sitting here trying to figure out the words. There are none.

[bugandbibs]

My God, those poor babies.

[emilyj]

That family needs to be removed from that country, now.

No, actually, that entire justice system needs to be removed from power and sent to a remote island.

I can't even form words for how disgusting this is.

[FloFTW]

The lowest of low.

[ttt]

Aug 29, 2015 21:28:31 GMT -5 emilyj said:

That family needs to be removed from that country, now.

No, actually, that entire justice system needs to be removed from power and sent to a remote island.

I can't even form words for how disgusting this is.

I would argue for removal of the entire 12+ male population.

[gpw]

I cannot believe we live in a world where these things happen.

[Kattey]

I can't even with this. My heart breaks for those women.

[sequins]

Aug 29, 2015 20:23:31 GMT -5 anastasia517 said:

I can't believe that this is a real story. The fact that this is an actual sentence being given to two young women for something their brother did is absolutely horrifying. I am struggling to wrap my head around this and to come up with something coherent or meaningful.

This is not a legal sentence. It's some fucked up punishment thought up by a "council" consisting mostly of old fucked up men who have terrible fucked up ideas of justice. It will be (rightly) thrown out by an actual court. The sad thing though is that the family will continue to be bullied

[mrsukyankee]

Aug 30, 2015 3:41:23 GMT -5 sequins said:

Aug 29, 2015 20:23:31 GMT -5 anastasia517 said:

I can't believe that this is a real story. The fact that this is an actual sentence being given to two young women for something their brother did is absolutely horrifying. I am struggling to wrap my head around this and to come up with something coherent or meaningful.

This is not a legal sentence. It's some fucked up punishment thought up by a "council" consisting mostly of old fucked up men who have terrible fucked up ideas of justice. It will be (rightly) thrown out by an actual court. The sad thing though is that the family will continue to be bullied

This.  It is not how all Indians think.  This tends to happen in small remote villages.  It isn't actually legal.  You will find that the same thing (councils made up of old men who use 'law' as revenge) happens in small remote locations in many countries that are developing or 3rd world, unfortunately.  It is ugly, horrible and does show the misogynistic aspects of society.  India is trying to move into a world where woman are 'equal', but it's freaking out a lot of men (hmmm...sound familiar to those of us in the West?), and they are reacting by trying to show their power over women (through rape & brutality).

[iammalcolmx]

sequins  mrsukyankee   Thank you for clarifying.

[cap]

How sad and awful. Hopefully the real courts can intervene in time and stop it from happening.

[secretlyevil]

Those poor women. I hope the supreme court intervenes in time. What a fucking mess of a world we live in.

[ttt]

Aug 30, 2015 3:41:23 GMT -5 sequins said:

Aug 29, 2015 20:23:31 GMT -5 anastasia517 said:

I can't believe that this is a real story. The fact that this is an actual sentence being given to two young women for something their brother did is absolutely horrifying. I am struggling to wrap my head around this and to come up with something coherent or meaningful.

This is not a legal sentence. It's some fucked up punishment thought up by a "council" consisting mostly of old fucked up men who have terrible fucked up ideas of justice. It will be (rightly) thrown out by an actual court. The sad thing though is that the family will continue to be bullied

It's not a legal sentence but that doesn't mean it won't be carried out anyway. It has in the past, and the Indian government hasn't exactly done a great job of stepping in and protecting women in these communities.

[mrsukyankee]

Aug 30, 2015 7:57:36 GMT -5 ttt said:

Aug 30, 2015 3:41:23 GMT -5 sequins said:

This is not a legal sentence. It's some fucked up punishment thought up by a "council" consisting mostly of old fucked up men who have terrible fucked up ideas of justice. It will be (rightly) thrown out by an actual court. The sad thing though is that the family will continue to be bullied

It's not a legal sentence but that doesn't mean it won't be carried out anyway. It has in the past, and the Indian government hasn't exactly done a great job of stepping in and protecting women in these communities.

But they starting to try to make changes and many Indians are working very hard to make serious changes to how woman and these courts are perceived.  The very fact that the women were able to get the word out and get help is a huge change from the past...and how people, even in India, are responding gives me hope that this will eventually become a thing of the past.

The hardest bit is that there is so much corruption in a very large country and so changes come slowly.  People are afraid of change and so it'll take time.  But at the ground level and moving up, there are changes happening.  People are fighting for a better India.

[ttt]

Aug 30, 2015 8:05:28 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

Aug 30, 2015 7:57:36 GMT -5 ttt said:

It's not a legal sentence but that doesn't mean it won't be carried out anyway. It has in the past, and the Indian government hasn't exactly done a great job of stepping in and protecting women in these communities.

But they starting to try to make changes and many Indians are working very hard to make serious changes to how woman and these courts are perceived.  The very fact that the women were able to get the word out and get help is a huge change from the past...and how people, even in India, are responding gives me hope that this will eventually become a thing of the past.

The hardest bit is that there is so much corruption in a very large country and so changes come slowly.  People are afraid of change and so it'll take time.  But at the ground level and moving up, there are changes happening.  People are fighting for a better India.

That's good, but it unfortunately doesn't mean that these girls won't still be raped or that this won't happen many more times before anything changes. When you still have sex-selective abortions rising, and when women become *more* likely to abort a girl when they become more educated and wealthier, there's still something seriously wrong and seriously misogynist about that culture. 

There are a lot of Americans working to prevent racism and race-related police shootings, but that doesn't mean there isn't still something deeply wrong with our culture and country. 

[mrsukyankee]

ttt, I never said there wasn't something wrong with that part of the culture of India and I hope that these girls are protected. I hate that this is a part of the culture as do my H's relatives (who primarily live in India). I just wanted to put out there that not everyone thinks this is appropriate in the country, that's all.

[aurora]

Aug 30, 2015 8:19:46 GMT -5 tryingtobehappy said:

Aug 30, 2015 7:57:36 GMT -5 ttt said:

It's not a legal sentence but that doesn't mean it won't be carried out anyway. It has in the past, and the Indian government hasn't exactly done a great job of stepping in and protecting women in these communities.

I can say with certainty that these women will be safe. They were able to get to the court and the case has media attention. I worry more for women who are bullied/abused in remote areas and are not so "lucky". You are right though, the indian govt hasn't been doing a great job.... It has taken a few steps in the right direction but safety of women has to be a top priority.

Maybe these two will be protected from this sentence, but will they ever be able to return to their community? It seems like no matter what their lives will be irrevocably changed.

I'm glad that there are many in India who recognize how F'd up this system is but wish change could come faster.

Of course, there are probably a lot o people looking at the US from the outside who would say the same on various topics.