As the Delhi media discussed and dissected the Prime Minister’s Republic Day speech on January 27, a 14-year-old girl in a village in Assam committed suicide after she was blamed and shamed at a panchayat –– the cornerstone of Indian democracy.

The incident took place in Sidhuni village in Barpeta district, which has been on the list of India’s most backward areas and has a low literacy rate. Naurin*, was a ninth standard student of the village school. According to her family, Naurin had confided to her father that one Jahidul Islam, had been sexually exploiting her for a year.

Islam is 22 years old and belongs to the Dewani community, which is well-off.

Naurin was the daughter of a poor farmer and Islam – against whom she had gone to the panchayat – holds sway in the region by virtue of his community.

Her family said Naurin told them that she and Islam had been in a relationship and that Islam had promised that he would marry her. On January 26, a desperate Naurin had showed up at Islam’s house, demanding that he deliver on his promise, say the family.

Reportedly, Islam’s family roughed her up. His uncle Madu Miya threw her out of the house. It was then that she told her father about her relationship with Islam.

When Naurin’s father went to Islam’s home to speak to his family about what Naurin had told him, they allegedly dismissed him. He, like Naurin, expected Islam to fulfill his promise, but this demand was cast aside by Islam’s family. Instead, they blamed him for not keeping his daughter ‘under control’. Naurin’s father decided to approach the police.

However, Abdul Karim, president of No. 78 Sitoli Gaon Panchayat, reportedly succeeded in dissuading the family. He convinced them that such a sensitive matter should not be given to the police and assured Naurin’s family that the panchayat would mete out justice. A panchayat hearing was scheduled for the next day itself, at Karim’s home.

The meeting was well-attended. Hundreds of villagers and members of the Dewani community gathered for the proceedings. The panchayat president of a nearby village – who happens to be the accused’s brother-in-law – was also present.

What followed was a nightmare for Naurin and her family.

Requesting anonymity, one of the villagers who attended the panchayat hearing described it to 101Reporters as despicable and humiliating. Allegedly, the Dewanis repeatedly pressed the girl to give graphic details of her relationship with the accused. “She was terribly frightened and traumatised, but the questions wouldn’t stop. One of the perverts wanted to know where and how she was touched,” the eyewitness said.

Both sides ostensibly had their say, though Naurin’s testimony seems to have been an exercise in humiliation and violation. When it was time for Karim to make his pronouncement, he squarely put the blame on the girl. Reportedly, the panchayat president remarked that if a she-goat is set free, then the he-goat is bound to try to have some fun. After him, Nayan Ali, a Dewani and allegedly an ally of Karim, told villagers that involving the police would mean Naurin having her private parts checked by the hands of doctors of another religion as part of her medical check-up.

However, the panchayat did order Islam to pay Rs 80,000 to the victim’s family in installments. The girl’s family was asked to keep quiet and move on.

Naurin refused to accept this version of justice. She protested and was reportedly beaten up by the accused’s kin for doing so.

That evening, Naurin hanged herself. She was 14.

The National Alliance of People’s Movement has requested the National Human Rights Commission to investigate this case. “Barpeta is prone to such violation of human rights, and it keeps on happening,” the NAPM have written in their letter. “Poverty and illiteracy have been helping to [sic] feudal-minded Dewani and other powerful social groups to keep their grips over the marginalized sections of the society and thus undermine the rights and entitlements.” The NAPM also alleges Islam raped Naurin on January 26. This is confirmed by her family. So far, no post-mortem has been conducted.

Naurin’s case offers a chilling look at just how deep the claws sink into an under-privileged victim. Not only was Islam an adult who was sexually exploiting a teenager – since Naurin was 14, this amounts to statutory rape – but when she and her family wanted justice, they were subjected to social customs that reinforce bias, prejudice and oppression.

If Karim’s interrogation of Naurin was offensive, then so is his confidence that the girl’s family is so downtrodden that money can be used to distract them from being publicly humiliated.

The system of panchayat is supposed to deliver justice swiftly and in a way that is alert to local customs. Naurin’s is one of many cases from rural India that raise the question of whether those in the panchayat should not be held responsible for regressive thinking. Here, Karim and his colleagues milked the ignorance of locals by raising fears (like that of a Hindu doctor violating Muslim Naurin) to protect someone they consider their own. As a result the panchayat also encouraged distrust in institutions like the police, who should be trusted rather than considered a last and dubious resort.

On January 28, her family registered a case with Mandia police outpost. Islam was arrested only a week later, on February 4. A villager told 101Reporters that the local police are known to socialise with the family of the accused and anticipated Islam would be released soon. Another villager shared rumours that that the police were trying to intimidate Naurin’s family and had told Islam’s family to give Rs 1.5 lakh to hush up the case.

“Please do not publish my name. They will harm me,” this villager told 101Reporters.

Investigating officer Anikanta Roy refused to comment on the case, saying the investigation was still under way.

Karim, the panchayat president under whose watch Naurin was harassed and humiliated, defended his decision. He told 101Reporters that the girl loved the man and wanted to marry him, which is why the panchayat ordered him to pay Rs 80,000 – so that she could get married. He also threatened this correspondent against publishing anything “rubbish” that could demean the panchayat and “his position”.

Numbers available with National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) show that crimes against children went up in 2015 compared with the previous year. With 2,834 such cases, Assam was at number 10 in the list of states with most such cases. In 2015, the state also witnessed a 21 per cent increase in instances of crime against women over the previous year. As per records with Assam police, 12,294 rape cases were registered across the state from 2010 to September 2016. About 90 per cent of the offenders were known to the victims and 65 per cent were neighbours.

Episodes like this one make it less likely that another Naurin will come forward. It also becomes more likely that another Islam will feel confident of exploiting another young girl.

(Names of the victim and her relatives have been changed to protect the former’s identity.)

(Syeda Ambia Zahan is a Guwahati based independent journalist and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.)