Lucknow: A man guilty of raping a deaf and mute neighbour in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur, will receive 51 slaps in public, the village chief said on Friday.
The elders stepped in to review the case because local police failed to arrest the accused after a complaint was filed by the victim's husband, village head Badr-ul Hasan said.
The woman, a mother of three, alleged she was raped in a field last Sunday when returning home from work in Rampur, 330 kilometers northwest of Lucknow.
"Police told us that since the woman is deaf and dumb, she is not able to narrate the incident," Hasan said.
A village court, comprising five elders, heard from both sides on Wednesday and found the man guilty, fined him Rs 5,000 and ordered he be publicly slapped with an open hand 51 times.
"We can't do more than that. The village court doesn't have powers to arrest any one," said Hasan. "By public slapping, the court wants to put (him) to shame."
The village court generally settles land and other such disputes among the residents, not criminal offenses.
Local police inspector C N Singh said officers were still investigating the woman’s complaint.
''A case will be registered only if police find proof that the woman was raped. We are inquiring from children who were playing in the field then,'' Singh said.
If convicted by a state criminal court, the man could be sentenced to death.
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