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A scorching test for her fidelity

Mahim Pratap Singh

BHOPAL: Superstitious and patriarchal caste beliefs translated into gender-redirected violence as a lower caste woman’s hand was burnt with boiling oil in order to test her chastity and loyalty towards her husband in a Jabalpur village on Tuesday.

The woman, Anjo Bai, belonging to a Scheduled Caste, lodged an FIR at the Sihora police station after she was forced out of her house by her husband in the middle of the night on Tuesday.

The husband, Raajbhaan, accused the woman of infidelity and asked her to prove her innocence by dipping her hand in boiling oil. The woman did as instructed twice and came out unhurt as the oil was yet to heat up.

At this, her husband asked her to do it again and when she refused, forcibly thrust her hand into the boiling oil, causing serious burns. He did not stop at that and forced the woman out of the house in the middle of the night.

“The woman filed a FIR at our police station on Wednesday at around noon after being out of her house for the whole night,” said B.B. Singh, ASI, Sihora police station. “We have arrested the husband.”

“The elders of the community say that it is an old tradition of their community to test a woman’s character by asking her to dip her hand in boiling oil,” he added.

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