Five young women were allegedly gangraped by half-a-dozen men when they went to Kochang village in Arki police station area of Jharkhand’s Khunti district to stage a street play against human trafficking. The incident occurred in a village where Patthalgadi had been performed and senior police and administrative officials said Patthalgadi supporters were suspected to be involved. The police said that they have registered a case of gangrape against unidentified persons. Patthalgadi, a traditional practice among tribals in which they put up stone slabs with names of their ancestors, has of late taken the form of a protest, with patthalgadi supporters urging people not to allow government officials and police to enter their areas. They have also said that they intend to run their own schools and set up an “adivasi board”. They have argued that Constitution has given them the right to maintain their own systems in Scheduled Areas.

Five young women were allegedly gangraped by half-a-dozen men when they went to Kochang village in Arki police station area of Jharkhand’s Khunti district to stage a street play against human trafficking. The incident occurred in a village where Patthalgadi had been performed and senior police and administrative officials said Patthalgadi supporters were suspected to be involved. The police said that they have registered a case of gangrape against unidentified persons. Patthalgadi, a traditional practice among tribals in which they put up stone slabs with names of their ancestors, has of late taken the form of a protest, with patthalgadi supporters urging people not to allow government officials and police to enter their areas. They have also said that they intend to run their own schools and set up an “adivasi board”. They have argued that Constitution has given them the right to maintain their own systems in Scheduled Areas.