India A Local Custom Called Cruelty

A vicious caste murder becomes a cause celebre

When Kuchchi Devi, 24, and her husband Dhanraj, 26, used to walk together to the well for a bath, the villagers of Saton Dharampur would sigh at the grace of this "pair of swans," as they were called. He was tall and handsome. She was lovely, with smooth skin and sloping eyes. The local landlord, Arjun Singh, noticed Kuchchi's beauty too. One day last month he approached her as she cut wheat in his fields and offered her two bullocks and other favors if she would sleep with him. Dhanraj angrily told Singh to leave his wife alone. That evening, two...

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