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Uttar Pradesh Khap Bans Mobile Phones For Girls Below 18 Years To Protect Them From Sexual Abuse

UP Khap Bans Mobile Phones For Girls Below 18 Years To Protect Them From Sexual Abuse
India, Uttar Pradesh, Agra, young girl loooking at smartphone.
Adrian Pope via Getty Images
India, Uttar Pradesh, Agra, young girl loooking at smartphone.

Days after a video showed a 15-year-old girl being forced to strip by her school director, the Uttar Pradesh panchayat came up with an idea on how to ensure there are no such incidents.

At a gathering of around 4,000 people in Bhilaipur, the Khap panchayat issued a diktat--Girls below 18 years cannot use cell phones.

This is apparently a precautionary measure to protect girls from sexual abuse or exploitation.

And just in case you are wondering, it's not the same rule for boys.

"There will be a complete ban on mobile use by minor girls as these devices are corrupting them. Our girls are often trapped and exploited by men from a particular community which has the backing of a powerful political party in the state," Ramsewak Pehelwan, one of the members of Lodhi Rajputs, told Times Of India.

Last week, Jitender Singh Yadav, director of the senior secondary school in Bagwala area in Uttar Pradesh allegedly leaked an explicit video of one of his girl students to mentally harass the teenager for refusing his advances.

More than 20 other girls from the school had been allegedly targeted by him.

Yadav has been arrested and booked under charges of rape and criminal intimidation.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.