A khap panchayat in Bhilwara district slapped a fine of Rs 10 lakh on a newly-wed woman for failing the virginity test. Earlier, she was beaten up, tortured and abandoned by her husband and in-laws.
The woman filed a police complaint in Bagor Police Station against her husband and the khap panchayat on Saturday.
Bagor Police in-charge Ayub Khan said that a 24-year-old woman, living in Bhilwara city, was married in Bagore on May 11 this year. After marriage, she was subjected to a virginity test, which she couldn’t pass, he added.
A case Section 498A (coercing a woman to meet unlawful demand), 384 (extortion), 509 (insulting the modesty of a woman), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) under the Indian Penal Code was lodged at Bagor police station against the in-laws on Sunday.
During her interrogation, it was revealed that before marriage, a young man, living in her neighbourhood, had raped her. Upon learning this, her husband and mother-in-law thrashed her. After this, the khap panchayat was called at Bhadu Mata Mandir of Bagor police station area. No decision was taken in the panchayat. On May 31, the panchayat was called again, and it imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on the woman and her parents because she could not pass the ‘kukdi’ ritual.
In a video clip, the woman says, “I failed in the rituals which were performed in the afternoon. Thereafter, discussions happened till late at night. I did not say anything out of fear. Then, I was beaten up by my husband and in-laws.”
The practice of ‘kukdi’ in the Sansi community is a norm in Rajasthan. For the virginity test under the prevalent ‘kukdi’ practice, at the time of the marriage, the family members keep a ball of raw cotton (kukdi) on the bed along with laying a white sheet on this ‘kukdi’. If no blood stains are found on the white sheet, the bride passes the virginity test. However, if blood spots are found on the sheet, she is dubbed as immoral and unchaste, and then is beaten up as well as fined.