Twisted ‘justice’

While India has made progress over the past several years in various fields, the country still has remnants of centuries-old backward elements that have prevented its society from advancing. In Bhagpat district of Uttar Pradesh, a village tribunal ordered two women to be raped and paraded around nude as a consequence for their brother eloping with a married woman. A critical piece of information from the story was that the woman was from a higher Hindu caste order than the man. The caste system is still prevalent in a world where globalisation has completely changed the ethos for the better in many cases, with India playing a major role in the progress, and where there is a more conscious effort than before to bridge opportunity gaps between different income and social groups, even if such efforts aren’t entirely successful. In complete disregard of human rights, members of the tribunal issued a criminal verdict and must be taken to task.

The Indian government must revisit the situation vis-a-vis the state of human rights in the country. It must be extra vigilant as various religio-cultural practices such as devadasi, the sanctioned rape by a priest of prepubescent girls, continue to exist in the 21^st century. Village tribunals need to be investigated and stripped of their pseudo-authority, instead of being allowed to devastate the lives of entire families. This goes for all countries in the subcontinent in which such illegitimate authority is given to jirgas. Pakistan, too, has its own wall of shame when it comes to allowing such verdicts to go unchecked. Similar examples for Pakistan exist wherein the practice of swara has been mandated when a brother has engaged in what a jirga deems to be an unethical act. We support Amnesty International in urging the Indian Supreme Court to intervene in the case. With the international frenzy and anger that the topic of rape in India has caused, its government must not ignore this illegally-sanctioned rape by a few bigoted men. There is a need to stop such village tribunals across the subcontinent from issuing illegal judgments and devastating lives.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd,  2015.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.