Two sisters
have been sentenced to be raped as punishment after their brother ran off with
a married woman. An unelected
all-male village council in India also ordered that 23-year-old Meenakshi Kumari
and her 15-year-old sister are paraded naked with blackened faces.
The horrific
order was revealed by Amnesty International which said the sisters
and their family have fled their village in the Baghpat district, just outside
of Delhi.
According to
news site Zee
Media, the sisters' brother Ravi fell in love with a girl from the Jat
caste, a higher social caste than Ravi and his family, who are Dalit, once
known as the 'untouchables', who are at the bottom of India's caste system.
The Jat woman's
family married her off to someone else in February but she later escaped and
eloped with Ravi in March.
As
punishment, on July 31 a village council decided Ravi's sisters should be raped to
avenge his actions.
Since the
family fled their village their home has been ransacked.
Sumit Kumar,
another brother of Meenakshi, told Amnesty that members of the Jat caste were
powerful members of the village council, saying: "The Jat decision is
final."
His family
fears for their lives if they return. Meenakshi has filed a petition with
India's Supreme Court asking for protection.
Meanwhile
her father has also lodged a complaint with two national bodies saying he has
been harassed by the family of the Jat woman and by police.
They are
also worried about the safety of the Jat woman, who is believed to be pregnant
with Ravi's child.
Amnesty
International has launched a petition calling on India's authorities
intervene immediately and protect the two sisters.
In an
appeal, Amnesty said: "Unelected village councils such as this are
widespread in parts of India.
"More
often than not they are made up of older men from dominant castes, who
prescribe rules for social behaviour and interaction in villages.
"Nothing
could justify this abhorrent punishment. It's not fair. It's not right. And
it's against the law."
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