Teenage girls found gang-raped, hanging from a tree in India may have been victims of honour killings by family – Police

Remember the story of the teen sisters gang-raped and found hanging from a mango tree in India, you can read the story Here. Well the Police in India are now claiming that those girls may have actually been the victims of honour killings.

An honour killing is where members of the family of a lady kill her because she intends marrying someone they don’t approve.

The police are further saying that, only one of the girls had been raped and they had in fact been strangled before their bodies were strung up on the tree. He added that the police now believe the five men sought for their murder last month may be innocent. Officers will investigate the victim’s families with relatives undergoing ‘narco-analysis,’ whereby they will be interviewed under the influence of ‘truth drug’

Three brothers have confessed to attacking and killing the young cousins, named Murti and Pushpa, in a case which has horrified India.

Postmortem report of the deceased showed that one of the girls was not raped and it appears to be a case of honour killing, it was revealed in a hurriedly-called press conference.

My Take:

The issue with rape in India is complicated because, even the state’s Chief Secretary dubbed rape as a ‘trivial incident’ and it should not be blown out of proportion by the media. He also said the media should also look into the incidents where people have been falsely implicated in such cases.

The police involvement has also further complicated the issue. A case where the alleged killers are members of the dominant caste to which most of the local police also belongs has made arrest very difficult.

Police unwillingness to arrest suspect or ignoring victims cry for assistance has led to so many victims unwilling to come further to report cases of abuse and even when investigations are carried out, there is also the fear that, the police would not do a thorough job. Cases after cases have proven this to be true.

Although a rape is reported in India every 21 minutes on average, law enforcement failures mean that such crimes – a symptom of pervasive sexual and caste oppression – are often not reported or properly investigated , even human rights group agree with this.

The caste system in India has also meant that, low-caste villagers are expressing fears that they could be the target of horrifying attacks by the dominant caste.

Until the authorities begin to see rape or abuse of women as a serious issue, they will keep treating it with kids’ glove, thereby allowing more girls and women to continue to experience shame.

Honouring killings or whatever it’s called is a crime not just against Indian women but women around the world.