Five slaps ordered as penalty for rape

Lucknow: Rape a woman and receive five slaps with slippers as a punishment this is what a village panchayat, or council, in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor district has ruled.

According to delayed reports reaching here, a young married woman was allegedly raped by three men Billu, Pali and Lala on Monday in the fields in Badhapur police station area.

The woman returned home and narrated the incident to her husband who then went to the Badhapur police station to lodge a complaint. However, the police refused to register their complaint and when the couple threatened to approach senior police officials at the district headquarters, the police advised them to approach the village panchayat instead.

The village panchayat was convened on Tuesday night and after hearing the victim's version, the panchayat members summoned Billu, Pali and Lala.

The three confessed to the crime after which the village panchayat ordered the victim and her husband to sign on blank papers.

The couple succumbed to the panchayat's pressure and signed the papers after which the "punishment" was announced the victim was asked to hit the three men five times each with her slippers. The victim did as she was told and the panchayat members spoke for long about how the culprits had been rightly humiliated.

The victim and her husband now plan to approach senior police officers in their quest for justice. "We have been duped by the panchayat which made us sign the blank papers.

"We have now come to know that the three culprits are related to some panchayat members and hence they played out this farce to prevent us from lodging a complaint with the police.

"The police at the Badhapur police station were obviously hand in glove with the panchayat members and therefore, refused to register our complaint," said the victim's husband.

The victim did as she was told and the panchayat members gave long speeches about how culprits had been rightly humiliated.