An unelected all-male village council in Baghpat district, Uttar Pradesh, ordered that Meenakshi Kumari, 23, and her teenage sister will also be paraded through the streets naked, with blackened faces, as they are made to pay the price for their brother's alleged transgressions.
The Kumaris are Dalits, or untouchables, placed at the very bottom of India's ancient and archaic caste system. According to Zee News, the pair's brother Ravi fell in love with a girl from the higher Jat caste, however the relationship was forbidden by the family elders. The girl was then forcibly married off to another man in February, but later eloped with Ravi. The Jat woman is now thought to be pregnant with his child.
Meenakshi has filed a petition with the Supreme Court asking for protection. Her father has also lodged a complaint saying that his family has been harassed, not just by the family of the woman who has eloped, but also by the police.
The Khap panchayat, or village council has now decided that the barbaric "punishment" will be inflicted on the sisters as retribution. Sumit Kumar, another brother of Meenakshi, said that 'the Jat decision is final', adding, 'The police said anyone can be murdered now.'
Amnesty International has however launched a petition calling on India's authorities to intervene immediately and protect the two sisters.
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