Link Press
The Indian village where a woman was ordered to be gang-raped on the orders of a kangaroo court earlier this week has defended the men who participated in sexually violating her.
Both women and men alike in Chowhatta in West Bengal, India, have come to the defense of the at least a dozen men who attacked a woman, who was punished for having a relationship with man who lived outside of their town.
Authorities have been hampered in their investigations into the horrific gang rape incident, according to The Times of India. Local residents have said that they do not want authorities entering Chowhatta and “interfering in our daily lives.” They have also moved to prevent journalists from entering the village and “demeaning their culture.”
Members of the town have also insisted that the make-shift court’s decision to order the gang rape was entirely justified because the woman was “caught in a compromising position with a married man of another village.”
Another woman claimed that the 20-year-old woman had brought the action upon herself after refusing to leave their town.
“Some of our boys rounded up the duo and brought them to the village. We tied them up but didn’t ask our men to rape her, nor did we demand money. Our elders told the girl to leave the village if she wants to stay with that man. She threatened us that she will not yield. She spoke to someone in Hindi and went to police to get our men arrested,” said a woman,
The victim met her lover while both of them were working on the village’s school building.
One woman, whose husband has since been arrested for the gang rape, said that the victim’s actions had disrespected the building.
“It is this under-construction school that has brought shame to our village. It’s here that the two met. She has brought disrespect to our community,” she insisted.
