A 17-year-old girl from India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state was killed last week and her body dumped on a river bridge, allegedly by members of her extended family who were enraged at her choice of clothes.
The grandfather and uncles of the teenager, identified as Neha Paswan, allegedly beat her severely with sticks and rods after she went against their diktat and continued to wear jeans — clothing her family considered inappropriate.
Reports in Indian media outlets said the family repeatedly objected to her “western clothes,” exposing the deep roots of patriarchy in the country’s social fabric.
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Shakuntala Devi, the teen’s mother, was quoted by the BBC as saying that the teen was adamant about wearing jeans despite strong objections from her grandparents.
“She had kept a day-long religious fast. In the evening, she put on a pair of jeans and a top and performed her rituals. When her grandparents objected to her attire, Neha retorted that jeans were made to be worn and that she would wear it,” Ms Devi said.
This led to an argument that escalated to severe violence against the teen, according to the BBC. The girl’s grandparents and other relatives reportedly beat her unconscious.
Police said the grandfather and two of her uncles refused to let Ms Devi accompany them to the local district hospital. They instead allegedly took the help of a local auto-rickshaw driver to dispose of the body.
“They wouldn’t let me accompany them so I alerted my relatives who went to the district hospital looking for her but couldn’t find her,” Ms Devi was quoted as saying by the BBC.
