Source: Ramesh Menon, The Week
“6 Jat men raped a Dalit woman in 2015. #ReportingToRemember the Jat Khap Panchayat in Haryana for forcing her to alter her testimony against the rapists. Her family was harassed by the Khap & forced out of the village.”
On March 10, 2015, a 30-year-old Dalit woman from the Kaithal district in Haryana, was gang-raped by six men of the Jat caste. She filed an FIR on the same day and on March 28, the police filed charges including rape, kidnapping, and assault under the Prevention of Atrocities Act.
As the trial was delayed due to forensic results that were yet to come, the victim and her family began to face harassment and victim blame from the Khap Panchayat. Although in this case the law was being followed by the police and justice could have been served, the victim blaming tactics of intimidation were used by the dominant caste men to force the victim and her family to turn into a hostile witness in court, altering her testimony, and helping the accused to get acquitted. Soon after, the victim and her family left the village.
References:
https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/11/08/everyone-blames-me/barriers-justice-and-support-services-sexual-assault-survivors
https://www.theweek.in/webworld/features/society/india-losing-battle-against-sexual-violence.html
