The semi-naked body of a teenage girl who was allegedly humiliated by village elders for protesting against her father’s harassment has been found near a railway track in eastern India.
Police suspect the 15-year-old girl in West Bengal was raped and murdered. Her family said she was made to spit on the ground and lick it up - an act considered a grave form of humiliation. The girl’s body was found in the state’s Jalpaiguri district on Tuesday.
Unofficial courts in India’s villages often sanction punishment of residents deemed to have violated local codes.
Scrutiny of sexual violence in India has grown since the 2012 gang rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus.
The government tightened laws on sexual violence last year after widespread protests following the attack, but violence and discrimination against women remain deeply entrenched.
