A rape victim made pregnant by her attacker has been forced to balance 40kg rock on her head in order to 'prove her purity.'
A court in Gujarat, India, refused to allow the woman to have an abortion following the brutal assault. She reportedly had to surrender her baby to the government, The Independent reports.
The unidentified woman was forced to undergo the ‘sanctity test’ ritual, known as Agnipariksha for an unspecified amount of time in order to live with her husband again.
The woman has reportedly revealed that she is living in fear and that her attacker threatened to kill
her when he is released from jail.
Agnipariksha is a cultural tradition prevalent in parts of India for women who have suffered sexual assaults. It is meant to cleanse them because their virtue has been tainted.
Meaning ‘test of fire’, the ritual reportedly originates in the Hindu poem the Ramayana.
In the poem Sita, a figure seen as a paragon of feminine virtues for Hindu women, was made to sit in fire after being kidnapped by a suitor.
The issue of rape and sexual assault has led to protests across India in recent years.
The horrific rape, and death of a 23-year-old student on a Delhi bus caused revulsion and anger worldwide in 2012.
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