West Bengal gang-rape: Young woman
'attacked on bamboo platform in front of
entire village' Now India’s highest court has ordered a
judicial inquiry Indian police escort men accused of the attack to
court. 13 men have been arrested and remain in
custody. By ANDREW BUNCOMBE Friday 24 January 2014 India’s highest court has ordered a judicial
inquiry into the reported gang-rape of a tribal
woman as claims emerged that the 20-year-old
had been assaulted on a raised platform in front
of her entire village. The woman remains in a serious condition in
hospital after a village council apparently
ordered her to be gang-raped as a “punishment”
for having a relationship with a Muslim man, who
was not part of the community. Police have
arrested more than a dozen men, including the headman of the village. On Friday, India’s Supreme Court ordered a
judge to visit the site of the alleged attack and
report back. It described the case as “disturbing”
and asked the district judge in Birbhum, the area
where the alleged assault took place on Monday,
to go to the village and file a report within a week. The court acted amid growing outcry over the
incident and the influence of village councils over
people living in rural parts of the country.
Activists have repeatedly said that politicians do
not do enough to speak out against such groups
because they rely on them for political support. “The politicians need to do a lot more,” said
Kavita Krishnan, of the All India Progressive
Women’s Association. “I remember Dr Ambedkar
[Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, author of the Indian
constitution] saying there was a gap between the
constitution and parts of Indian society. I think some politicians try and exploit this gap.” The attack, involving anywhere up to a dozen
men, was said to have been carried out after
villagers found the woman with the Muslim man
on Monday. They reportedly tied her to a tree
before hastily convening a village council. Village elders 'order gang-rape of young woman
as punishment for relationship with outsider' The elders said the man and woman should pay a
fine of the equivalent of up to £485. When the
couple and the woman’s family said they could
not pay such a sum, the headman apparently
ordered that the woman be gang-raped as a
punishment. “We were dragged to a gathering where our
community-headman was present. They told me
to pay Rs50,000. When I said I couldn’t, they
brutalised me,” the woman told The Times of India newspaper. Other villagers said that the men had erected a
bamboo platform on which the gang-rape was
carried out. Police arrested 13 men who have
been brought before a court and placed in
custody. The assault comes after a spate of high profile
rapes in West Bengal which have brought Chief
Minister Mamata Banerjee under fire for not
doing enough to stop violence against women. West Bengal recorded the highest number of
gender crimes in the country at 30,942 in 2012 –
almost 13 per cent of India’s total recorded
crimes against women. These crimes include
rape, kidnapping and sexual harassment and
molestation. Earlier this month, Kolkata witnessed public
protests against police who have been accused of
failing to act on the gang rape of a 16-year-old
girl who was later burnt alive. Amid the political row, the West Bengal state
government on Friday transferred the top police
official of the district for failing to follow proper
procedures while arresting the suspects. The woman is a member of the ethnic Santhal
tribe. Her religion has not been disclosed but
reports suggest the tribespeople are often
animist, The man with whom she had been
having a relationship for a number of years is
Muslim and lives in a neighbouring village. The women told police that the man visited her
village, Subalpur, in Birbhum district of the state,
on Monday to propose marriage, but was caught
by other villagers.