Over 120,000 signatures have been collected for a petition to help two sisters from India who were sentenced to be gang raped by their village elders.
The sentence was handed down by a council of men in the village of Sankrot in Baghpat district, Uttar Pradesh, on July 30 after the girls’ brother eloped with a married woman from a higher caste.
According to The Telegraph, the man’s family is said to be from the “Dalit” caste, known as the “untouchables”, while the woman is from the “Jat caste”.
Meenakshi Kumari, 23, and her 15-year-old sister, who has not been named, had been sentenced to be raped and paraded naked with their faces blackened, for their brother’s crime, reportedTime.com.
They ran away to the capital and submitted a petition for protection to the Supreme Court, but face arrest if they return home, said Mail Online.
A petition to demand justice for the sisters was started by human rights group Amnesty International.
On its site, the group said: “Nothing could justify this abhorrent punishment. It’s not fair. It’s not right. And it’s against the law. Demand that the local authorities intervene immediately.”
Source: www.tnp.sg
