Indian village tribunal orders rape of two sisters to punish brother who eloped

Sisters fled their village after handing down of punishment

An unofficial village tribunal in India has decided to punish a man who eloped with a married woman by ordering his two sisters to be raped and paraded naked.

According to the Times of India, the women aged 23 and 25 are being punished for their brother who ran away with a woman from a higher caste.

Soon after the decision on July 30, the two sister fled their village in the Baghpat district and a petition from Amnesty International is calling on the Indian Supreme Court to help them return home.

Read: Five men held on rape charges in India

Condemning the ‘disgusting ruling’ Amnesty international said that the decision was made by a so-called kangaroo court operating outside of the country’s legitimate legal system.

"More often than not they are made up of older men from dominant castes, who prescribe rules for social behavior and interaction in villages," the group said. The petition by Amnesty has gathered more than 40,000 signatures so far.

Read: Rape victim in India asked to balance heavy rock on head to prove her ‘purity’

Rape and crimes against women are a huge problem in India according to the country's National Crime Record Bureau and despite government efforts sentences from illegal village courts continue to harass women.

Last year, a similar incident made headlines when a 20-year-old was ordered to be gang-raped after villagers objected to her relationship with another man

This article originally appeared on Huffington Post