The Hindu : National : A scorching test for her fidelity

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 03, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

National

National

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 to test her chastity in a Jabalpur village on Tuesday.

Anjo Bai, belonging to a Scheduled Caste, filed a complaint at the Sihora police station after she was forced out of her house by her husband in the middle of the night.

Raajbhaan accused the woman of infidelity and asked her to prove her innocence by dipping 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 also did not stop at that and forced the woman out of the house in the middle of the night.

Husband arrested

“The woman filed a FIR at our station on Wednesday,” 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.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National