We knew this was still going on in some part of the world. Rajasthan, India’s largest state in terms of land area is in the western part of the country, adjacent to Pakistan, and encompasses the vast and inhospitable Thar desert. Rajasthan is popular with tourists who come to see its many ancient palaces and forts, dating to the Mughal period. With a 10 percent muslim population, the state of Rajasthan is India's most muslim state. These people oftentimes live in small rural communities, away from the prying eyes of Hindu government officials in the cities. Although there are laws of course against this sort of thing, most of the time these communities are left alone, as long as they don't bother the Hindu population. A female passenger in a public bus was found bleeding from her thighs and the fellow passengers took her to hospital. At the hospital, the doctors who examined the lady found that she was wearing a chastity belt. The lady was bleeding from the injuries caused by wearing the belt. In case anyone is wondering where this happened, the incident is reported from the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan. Rajasthan is known to be one of the prime tourist destinations in India. However, what is least known is the horrifying condition of women in that state. The state, known more for its tourist attractions like the ancient forts and the Rajput culture, is a graveyard of women's rights. The practice of forcing women to wear a chastity belt is so common in Rajasthan that a website hosting advertisements of Indian industries boasts about various designs of chastity belts, even made from precious metals like silver and gold. http://www.wluml.org/node/3932 http://www.ethicsinaction.asia/archive/2007/vol1no1/chastity-belts-and-other-violence-against-women Woman Forced to Wear Chastity Belt in Indore, India We have read about male chauvinism and how in the days of yore suspicious men having doubts on the fidelity of their women, forced them to put on chastity belts and thereby ensure their loyalty. However, this is all but part of history and perhaps no where in recent modern times has one read or heard of the ancient practice being put in vogue. But according to a report from Indore, a young man, Sohan Lal Chauhan decided to tear a page from history and practice it on his wife. His wife, who was forced to wear a chastity belt for the last four years, could not bear the humiliation, embarrassment and above all uncomfort and apparently enough became enough for her. She decided to end her life and thereby her misery, consumed poison. A resident of Indiras Nagar in the Sayontiaganj area of Indore, she was rushed to the hospital, where both the doctors and policemen who had taken her for medical attention were dumbfounded to learn of the reported 'misdoings' of her husband, a worker in an auto garage. She told the cops and the doctors on duty that her husband had forcibly put a chastity belt round her private organ and locked the same. The lock had two keys, which her husband took with him when he went to work after locking the belt and opened it only when he returned home from work. All during this time the woman was forced to keep the belt around her vitals and bear not only the pain but the humiliation and uncomfort. The police took the keys from the man and gave it to the doctors to open the lock and take the women out of her misery. City S P, Rajesh Raghuvanshi is reported to have said that after receiving a report from the doctors, action will be taken against the young man as under law. In the initial interrogation, it was found that Sohanlal used a spiky instrument to pierce the vagina of his wife, so he could fastened a lock there. He was using chastity belt for the last four years. Raghuvanshi said that the reason behind such practice was doubt over the character of his wife. Raghuvanshi further said that Sohanlal used to lock the private parts of her wife in the morning before leaving for duty and unlocked it after return in the evening to preserve the faithfulness of his wife. http://vaishnava.me/iskcon-organiza...-man-uses-chastity-belt-on-wife/#.WCghCaNTHfM http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...es-wifes-genitals-seal-PADLOCK-went-work.html Let's not forget this is the same culture that sees genital mutilation of females as acceptable (and in some parts they routinely sow a young woman's labia together to prevent her from having sex, which the World Health Organization categorizes as type 3 female genital mutilation) Reference to the use chastity belts in India can also be found in the feminist book Countering Gender Violence: Initiatives Towards Collective Action in Rajasthan, by Kanchan Mathur: The five case studies taken up in this section highlight the fact that the construction of male identity is around sexual violence. That Kamli was made to wear a cruel, crudely made chastity belt came as a shock to all those involved with the WDP. However, her plight was in keeping with the segregation of women in the ‘zenana’ or the innermost quartes of the havelis in the Marwar region of Rajasthan. In Manju’s case, an attempt to rape her was made by Shyama Kalal, a ward panch of the same village who was well connected. After making several efforts to seek justice at the hands of the village sapranch, who too joined hands with Shyama Kalal and began maligning her character—the commonest and easiest step to silence and shame a woman—Manju finally decided to share her trauma with the WDP group in the district. To provide you with more insight into the type of culture that's going on here it is common in Rajasthan for girls to be made to consummate with their husbands immediately post-marriage to check their virginity. (And if the husband is not satisfied, the marriage is immediately annulled) While India has undergone a huge amount of development in recent decades, there are still vast swaths of the population in many parts of the country still living much as they did five hundred years ago.
Horrible. If he does not love her, he should not be with her. It is topics like this that belong in this forum.
Take it easy. Counties such as these have ways to get round the mania. The women can be as promiscuous as they want and have their hymen sewn up when the time is right to pull the wool over. So the guy she marries gets to "pop the cherry", exalt in the gush of blood, and believe he's married a virgin. That's all there is to it.
As you have said yourself, this is a very remote area with a small population. While it is a heinous thing, we can't change the whole world, not every tiny bit of it. The general Indian population does not support this and will do what they can to stop it. Heinous things happen in remote, low population places in the States too. It's part of the human condition.
Agreed. It is good to at least make everyone aware of it. Also, I'm sure men suffer atrocities of some kind too.
