Compiled by C. ARUNO, PAVITHRA RAMAN and R. ARAVINTHAN
A NEWLYWED woman in India was fined one million rupees (about RM56,000) by the village court for not being a virgin on her wedding day, Makkal Osai reported.
The woman was identified as a 24-year-old from the Sansi nomadic tribe in Rajasthan state’s Bhilwara region.
The tribe apparently practises the primitive Kukadi Pratha custom where the husband and his parents check if the bride is a virgin.
The young woman, who was forced to undergo the test, apparently “failed” the ritual and was beaten up and tortured by the groom’s family.
Initially too afraid to say anything, the woman eventually revealed that she had been sexually assaulted earlier. A police report filed at that time confirmed the assault.
Still unhappy, the groom’s family called for a panchayat (village court hearing) which handed the hefty fine to the woman.
Meanwhile, police arrested the groom and his family members and filed multiple cases against them for assaulting the bride.
> A woman motorcyclist was crushed to death in Perak after she got caught in a trailer’s wheels, Makkal Osai also reported.
The 39-year-old victim was on her way home when she apparently rode too close to the lorry while turning into a road.
Hilir Perak OCPD Asst Comm Ahmad Adnan Basri said the woman’s remains were sent for an autopsy at Hospital Teluk Intan.
The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.