| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The young woman was caught by tribal elders of the village, apparently in the company of a Muslim man. She was no ordinary tribal woman-driven by poverty, she had left her sleepy village in the Birbhum district of West Bengal state to live and work in a big city. Now she had a sizable disposable income. The
panchayat (tribal elders council) demanded that she pay a fine for being seen with a Muslim man. The man paid up. She refused. The panchayat ordered that she be tied up and gang-raped by 11 men. The "punishment" was as much for the fact that she had rejected the lot of the women in the village as for her entanglement with a Muslim man. It was intended as a warning to other women who might contemplate similar relationships. This happened on January 21, 2014. All the men, including the headman of the village, have been arrested; the district police chief
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