The girl said suspects had threatened to upload the video on the internet and distribute it in the area where she lived.PHOTO: FILE
The council ordered the horrific penalty to be carried out in a village in West Bengal state on Tuesday night after the 20-year-old woman was discovered with a man from another community, a senior officer said on Thursday.
Police have arrested 12 people over the attack which was meted out after the woman's parents said they could not pay the fine of 25,000 rupees ($459) imposed by the council for having the affair.
'We have so far arrested 12 people in connection with the incident,' district police superintendent C. Sudhakar told AFP.
The incident in India took place in Subalpur village, about 240 kilometres west of state capital Kolkata, after the couple were discovered on Monday.
'The head of the village council held an urgent meeting in the village square on Tuesday when the girl and her lover were called,' Sudhakar said.
'The girl and her lover were tied to two separate trees and fined 25,000 rupees each as a fine for having an affair,' he said.
'As the parents of the girl, who were also present at the meeting, expressed their inability to pay the fine, the head of the village council ordered that she should be raped by the villagers as punishment,' he said.
The man apparently involved with the girl was freed after he agreed to pay the fine within a week, he said.
The woman was recovering from the attack in a hospital.
The attack puts India's record on sexual violence back into the spotlight after national outrage over the fatal gang-rape of a student in New Delhi in December 2012.
The incident also echoes an attack on a woman in neighbouring Pakistan in 2002 on orders of a village council to avenge her 12-year-old brother's alleged impropriety with a woman from a rival clan.
Earlier this month, a Danish woman was allegedly gang-raped and robbed in the capital after she became lost on her way back to her hotel.
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@mahakaalchakra: Yes, it is me - gp65
Its shameful ... but to all those commenting about India have you forgotten Mukhtar Mai ?
Today, I am ashamed of being an Indian. I cannot go outside and call myself Indian. Every time I step outside the house, people say ”Oh, look she belongs to a country where everyday about 70-80 rapes (those that are reported, unreported are in the hundreds) occur.” I blame the culture changes. Bollywood and our liberal attitude towards sex can be blamed. It is so disgusting . Minors are regularly raped in India. No foreign female feels safe and every woman is viewed as a sex object. As bad as Pakistan is, I would rather see my female relatives get killed in a bomb blast than be raped.
gp65, could you confirm if the above was indeed posted by you? I doubt it seriously.
Village sarpanch system was allowed keeping in mind sensitivities of tribal areas. But clearly this system is grossly broken. All village Sarpanch system should be declared illegal and every citizen should be subjected to common law. I wonder what will be the appropriate punishment for these savages. I am glad its out in media and hope that each and every one of them including the village elders who supported this act be send behind bars for goods. No human rights for such animals. For few here who are pathetically opportunist in finger pointing at India, do not forget that there had been equally bad news from your nation. Its disgusting that instead of voicing against the culprits you choose to voice against the whole nation.
Still better than Pakistan. In Pakistan we wouldn't even have arrested the individuals involved because they would have been working for some high powered land owner. India remains one step ahead of us in that at least they catch the perpetrators.
They don't spare their own women and we expected them to spare our Kashmiri sisters?
These villagers are not regular folks. They are TRIBAL people, who are still living in ancient times. Their behavior is not a reflection or representation of regular Indians!!!!
@ Kolachi
How often do you hear reports of a gang rape sanctioned by community elders in the "promiscuous west"??
It's a pretty weak cop-out to blame it on the west like that. The reason such atrocities happen in the sub-continent is because of the horribly archaic and denigrating perception of women that pervades the culture.
To try and find a link between these atrocities and supposed western promiscuity is quite idiotic to say the least. I guarantee you that men and women in the sub-continent are no less "promiscuous" that those in the west. The only difference is the veil of hypocrisy behind which sexual appetite festers and develops into lustful depravity.
This a very shameful incident. All the participant in these crime should and will be thrown in jail by the Indian Justice system. However on humanitarian ground the criminals be given choice: 1) rot in the indian prison for 10-20 yrs 2) they should be given an option to migrate to pakistan, where such behavior are common, and they will feel at ease being in pakistan. At the same time they justice would have been served as they will be spending rest of their life in pakistan.
It is time to accept our India as the Rape Capital of the World :( Shame on us. Rape cases every week.
There are many factors which seems to be driving this deplorable act. One of the factor is taht the society is getting too promiscuous, as in the case of the west. We are not designed to follow west blindly. The other factor i see is the "Internet rated sites". Huge number of young, and not so young people watch internet porn and they want to get a real first hand experience of what they saw online. There is another espect to it and this seems to be the flesh trade or huge prostitution industry in India, many people tends to see a lot of women from this angle and they thought that it is alright for them to molest a women as she might be a prostitute,a bit sweeping but can be true.
No matter how much we refute but we are and have been one and the same for hundreds of years. What a shame that these things are still happening in the open on both sides of the border.
Mukhtiaran case revisited.we are not much different between India & Pakistan
This is news? This happens everyday in our India. ET should stop reporting this. I won't exaggerate when I say that EVERY female has being harassed in India - verbal, physical or emotional.
Today, I am ashamed of being an Indian. I cannot go outside and call myself Indian. Every time I step outside the house, people say ''Oh, look she belongs to a country where everyday about 70-80 rapes (those that are reported, unreported are in the hundreds) occur.'' I blame the culture changes. Bollywood and our liberal attitude towards sex can be blamed. It is so disgusting . Minors are regularly raped in India. No foreign female feels safe and every woman is viewed as a sex object. As bad as Pakistan is, I would rather see my female relatives get killed in a bomb blast than be raped.
@Khan: just like it was incase of MUKTARA BIBI pot calling the kattle black fact is Mr. khan we are in same dirty pool on both side of line
@vasan: We deserve all the rubbish thrown at us for this despicable act.
I completely agree, Vasan ji. Just the other day, lunatic politician went to the extent of saying that some women who went to temple regularly were not getting raped; implying that it was somehow the woman's fault for being raped. The sad part is, others have made similar comments in the past. . It is mind boggling to me how backward we are as a society. As much as we like to project our India to be a great country, we have some serious hurdles in our ways, our medieval mindset being one of the biggest challenge.
Shame, shame!!
Pakistanis who are ridiculing us must not forget the rape that happens in NApakistan
Just imagine for a moment if Indian laws of Kama Sutra were to be applied in France whose President has one Ex with several children, the second lady in waiting at the Palace, and the thord for night life in the apartment? The man goes free and the three get the punishment.
Rex Minor
Whats wrong???? This is INDIAN's part time National Act of Pride.
For having "AN AFFAIR", ?
weird how their movies encourages pre-martialsex/affairs :/
This is extremely sad. Whats worse is that people are taking this oppurtunity to ridicule the other. However we should pray that horrific acts such as this never happen again. I certainly hope the girl can recover from this trauma.
Sad. All condemn it
Shameful act. Rape is a horrible crime, but we should remember that rape is not just instigated by men always(I'm not talking about this case, but in general, before somebody jumps the gun, and brands me a misogynist)
Mindset is same on both side of border. Shame on us. Black scar on face.
We deserve all the rubbish thrown at us for this despicable act.
They should toss the rapist, village leaders and even those who sat around and did nothing to stop this disgusting crime in jail and throw away the keys.
It's a national shame for us and a reminder that we are also in the same boat as pakistan. We must not take opportunities to ridicule pakistan and vise versa.ita a social evil too ....to evil to feel any glee.
The person who had issued such order shall be hanged before public.Also Mamta banerjee should take this matter seriously and grant justice to victim by setting an example.
India shining....
Beyond so far from “world largest democracy” / "supper power"
Shining India