India: Worlds Largest Land Of The Gang Rape

Object 1

affair with a Muslim

'Go and enjoy yourselves': What tribal elder said before Indian gang rape victim was tied to a platform to be assaulted in view of entire village because of

Woman, 2 , sentenced to !gang rape" by village court in east India #unished for having a relationship with a man of another religion $he was tied to a platform and assaulted in front of the entire village %he village head told the &' men to !go enjoy yourselves" after !ruling" ( by )ichard $hears * +anuary 2,, 2 &,, -ondon, $ri -an.a Guardian/ %he 2 0year0old Indian woman who was gang0raped by &' men was se1ually assaulted while tied to a raised bamboo platform so her entire village could watch the torture, it emerged today2 %he head of the village, who led the .angaroo court which sentenced the woman to the savage rape as punishment for her falling in love with a man from another village, told the other judges to !go enjoy yourselves"2

It was previously reported that she had been raped repeatedly in a hut, but today it emerged that she had been publicly humiliated on a platform set up close to the village headman"s hut in the $uri district, West 3engal, the %imes of India reported2 4s the woman remained in intensive care today, further horrific details of the gang0rape punishment emerged2 5illagers told the %imes of India that after the .angaroo court ordered her to be se1ually savaged after she was caught sitting with her Muslim lover in another village, she was dragged onto a raised bamboo platform !so that the gang rape was viewed by the entire village, children included2" %he head man, named as 3oloi Murdy, who convened the ma.eshift court in the courtyard of his home, at first ordered the woman or her family to pay a fine of 6 , rupees *7,86/2 Murdy is reported to have told the men who gathered to watch the cruel spectacle: !If the family does not pay up, go and enjoy yourselves2" %he terrified woman and her lover had sat tied to separate trees as the !court" discussed her !crime"2 9er lover was released after he promised to pay his fine, but the woman was not spared because her family did not have the money to pay immediately2 $he was tied down to the bamboo platform and then, according to villagers who spo.e to the %imes of India, !her cries rent the air all night but no0one stepped forward to help her :ven her family, who lives 6 meters away, could not rescue her2" %he paper said the woman"s family was not given even a night"s time to arrange for money to pay the fine and once the headman ordered rape it was free for all2 '4mong those who raped her were teenagers and some old enough to be her father,' said a villager2 '4lmost the entire village 0 including children 0 had joined the .angaroo court2

'4ll of them hailed it as the correct move2' %he village has no electricity or school and, says the paper, the administration has always been wary of interfering with tribal traditions, leaving local rulers to live by their own laws2 ':ven on %hursday, a day after the gang0rape by up to &' people, the village didn't show any hint of repentance,' says the paper2 '%he women, in fact, barrac.ed police, insisting the men had done nothing wrong and that the woman had to be punished2' :ven the authorities have shown indifference to the woman"s treatment2 %he paper claims that at first the police did not see. custody of the accused men, allowing them to go free until their court appearances 0 which is unprecedented in gang0rape cases2 -ater they decided to hold the group in jail for &, days2 %o add to the woman"s shameful treatment, the public prosecutor did not even turn up in court because it was a holiday and no government official has bothered to meet the woman"s family or visit the scene of the crime2 5illagers were heard shouting that they would never allow the young woman or her family to return to the village, accusing the victim of framing the accused men because she had been ordered to leave the village if she continued with her affair2 4 local politician, Mu.ul )oy, in a statement said: !%he government is firm and will ta.e strictest action against the culprits2 It is a social malaise and we shall combat it politically, socially and administratively2"