By IANS,
Lucknow : Whatever punishment the law and the highest court in the land may prescribe for rape, a village council in Uttar Pradesh has clearly taken a different view. In a recent case, it felt slapping the rapist with shoes was enough.
The bizarre ‘justice’ was delivered in Sohjani village of Muzaffarnagar district, where the attacker, Chhote, was beaten six times with shoes and later forced to leave the village by the panchayat, locals said.
Chhote raped a married woman June 12, when she was alone in her house in the Jalalabad locality of the village. After the police allegedly turned her away when she sought to register a criminal case, she took the matter up with members of the community panchayat.
“Soon after passing the order, the five members of the panchayat hit the rapist with shoes one by one. Later, they offered the shoes to the victim, who then hit the rapist on his face,” a local told IANS over the telephone from Muzaffarnagar.
When contacted, superintendent of police Raju Babu Singh said: “The matter has been brought to my attention by some journalists. We have started an inquiry into the case. After the completion of the inquiry, we will take necessary action.”
Muzaffarnagar is about 350 km from Lucknow.