A young woman who refused an order in India is beaten, raped and humiliated in public

In the east New Delhi Many blocks around that area Malika Beating, raping and humiliating in public by the family of a young man who rejects love and commits suicide reveals cruelty. Patriarchy Raised by both men and women in India.

Taxi drivers refuse to go near the dangerous city of Kasturba Kidnappers And illegal liquor dealers. In the neighborhood, residents point out: “There, on that street” was several weeks ago Girl She was publicly humiliated.

No one but the neighbors can enter the alley where Dad’s house is. Malika (Nickname to protect the identity of the victim), and the room where she was a few meters away He was beaten, raped and humiliated.

You see in the videos of that afternoon Malika Lying on the floor during half a dozen Women They beat her and recorded her on their phone.

In other films, a 20-year-old girl shaves her head, has her face blackened and marches down the street with a shoe necklace around her neck, while hundreds of locals slap, refuse and applaud her. Abuses.

Now that no one seems to notice what happened in the neighborhood, everyone has an alibi: they were asleep, working or at a family party.

“They’re lying. Everyone here knows what happened that day. We were all there, but no one is talking,” a person in the neighborhood said, loudly referring to the neighbor’s silence.

The crime is the revenge of a family after the suicide of a young man. For the boy’s family, Malika Although he married the girl and had a two-year-old son, the cause of his death was his failure to persuade her to start a romantic relationship for many years.

The Dancer and Procession

In the now abandoned room, there are still signs made by the police on evidence such as hair locks. Malika Cut with a knife and scattered on the ground.

The family told Efe, a neighbor who identifies himself as a police informant, “they think they lost their son,” and he agreed to tell them what happened anonymously.

“They locked her up, beat her, forcibly cut her hair, blackened her face, and paraded her in public with a garland of shoes,” he says, fearing he would be found in the garage of his house and under a lock key. Other neighbors.

“Everyone was having fun,” he says.

The Women Who tortured Malika “They made their children, and even teenagers, do everything to her (…) from sexual abuse to beating her,” she says, ashamed to mention the rape.

An unidentified police officer told Efe that several boys, aged 15 to 17, were encouraged by their mothers to place their genitals on the victim’s face.

“The investigation is ongoing,” the inspector said Police Belonging to the region, r. Satyasundaram noted that so far twenty people have been detained, most of them women, except four minors.

The local explains that he was the only one on the street who called Police. “I did this for my four daughters, whom I love as much as four boys,” he insists.

“How dare you have a problem”

Renowned academic and researcher Ranjana Kumari has done a detailed study on this attack. According to her, this woman, who is considered inferior, could have triggered the suicide of a man in the neighborhood, creating an identity for her, her family and her caste.

“The family is taking revenge on her, but the community has punished everyone who is considered a woman. ViolationAnd marching in the street, people trying to tell him ‘how brave you are in trouble’, ”says the director of the Center for Community Research (CSR).

Psychologically she explains that “not only did she ‘do wrong’ for the family, it affected the community as a whole (…) Most of the neighbors were of the same caste, and they all took part in the revenge.”

Cuts on the head Malika They recreate the practice of a punishment or symbolic harassment on women, which, though not used, is still found in rural areas. Also, the black face symbolizes robbers or community deceivers, while the shoe evening symbolizes shame.

TO Malika They took her to the street to show that she was a “worthless” woman, and Kumari says, “They did not kill her in this attack, but they tried to destroy her.”

In 2020 alone, a total of 35,331 cases of crimes against women were registered in India, most of which were reported as “harassment by husband or relatives”, followed by “attacks with intent to violate their integrity”. “, Abduction and rape.

For Shafiq Khan, the founder of the Emperor People organization, an activist in the fight for women’s legal protection and Victims Regarding the abduction, he said, “This revenge attack is part of the same patriarchal ideology that still dominates India.”

“It’s not about women against men; it’s about patriarchy. It’s a part of society and women are not isolated from it. It’s a thought process,” he explains.

Woman, from an oppressed caste and marginalized family, Malika “It was an easy target,” he concludes.

EFE

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