Teen Girl Killed Because She Wore Jeans

Relatives killed the girl in India tragedy
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 27, 2021 3:01 AM CDT
Teen Girl Killed Because She Wore Jeans
Stock photo.   (Getty Images / Suradech14)

A teenage girl in India is dead over her choice of attire, authorities say. The 17-year-old reportedly returned to her village after staying with her father elsewhere for some length of time, and refused to wear traditional clothing after getting back. Instead, she wore jeans, among other modern articles of clothing, despite her relatives asking her not to do so, India Today reports. Her grandfather and uncle asked her last Monday to dress more traditionally, and when they saw her wearing jeans again on Thursday, they and some of her other uncles brutally beat her with sticks, the BBC reports.

Family members allegedly then panicked and threw her body over a bridge, but it got stuck and was seen hanging there, over the river below, by her mother when she went looking for the girl. Police ultimately retrieved it. The grandfather and a driver accused of helping with the attempted body disposal have been arrested, and police are searching for the other suspects. Similar violence has been reported recently in India; in other cases, girls have been savagely beaten for talking on mobile phones. "It's shocking that in the 21st century, we are killing and assaulting girls for wearing jeans or talking on a mobile phone," a gender activist says. (More India stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X