Vital Concerns for the World: Rape and whipping death of a 14 year old.

Friday, February 04, 2011

Rape and whipping death of a 14 year old.

Below I reproduce the version of the report that appeared in USA Today. This version doesn't say that the man was also supposed to be whipped but escaped. Click on the title for a link to the article.

Feb 02, 2011
Bangladeshi teen dies from sharia lashing after reportedly being raped

By Michael Winter, USA TODAY

A 14-year-old Bangladeshi girl who was reportedly raped by a 40-year-old married cousin has died after being publicly lashed for allegedly having an affair with him, according to news reports out of the South Asian nation.

A Muslim cleric and three others have been arrested, and today the country's High Court ordered officials in Shariatpur to explain why they did not protect Hena Begum, who died Monday following the fatwa punishment, The Daily Star writes from the capital, Dhaka.

BBC News says police are seeking 14 others in connection with her death, including a teacher from a local madrassa.

The Daily Star says that the girl was raped Sunday by a 40-year-old relative and that a village arbitration on Monday ordered she be whipped 100 times. The paper writes she "fell unconscious after nearly 80 lashes" and died after being taken to a hospital.

In its report, the BBC writes that police said the girl "was accused of having an affair with a married man," a cousin, and makes no mention of the rape. The BBC also quotes a police official as saying the girl died six days after being taken to the hospital but does not say when she died or was lashed.

The BBC says family members beat the girl after the reported rape and adds that village elders also asked her father to pay a $700 fine; annual income averages $520.

Villagers rallied today in Shariatpur against the village court, which consists of elders and clerics, and demanded that they be prosecuted.

The village council decreed the lashing under Islamic s haria law, but the country's High Court outlawed such harsh punishments last year. It's the second death linked to a sharia punishment since then. A 40-year-old Bangladeshi woman died in late December, almost a month after she was publicly caned 40 times for an alleged affair with her stepson.

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