Rape-Accused Walloped With Shoes as a Haryana Panchayat Decides Punishment

A panchayat or village council in Haryana allegedly settled a rape complaint by ordering villagers to beat up the accused man with shoes, instead of reporting him to the police.

A woman in Yamunanagar district had alleged that she was raped last week by a villager named Kala. Her family alleges that the police waffled in registering their complaint, dismissed the allegation as a minor quarrel and asked the panchayat to settle the matter "internally.''

The panchayat and some villagers apparently agreed that a thrashing with shoes was adequate punishment for the accused.

Once the media got wind of the headmaster-style thrashing as punishment for alleged rape -- the villagers and the police both denied it ever happened.

"The police didn't want anyone to know what the panchayat did," said Mayaram , a resident of the village. "So they said the man was punished after a dispute over water between some villagers," he told NDTV.

Some villagers, however, said the police are trying to cover up for their refusal to act on a rape complaint. After the incident, the police have taken to patrolling the village routinely.