Chittoor: Wife ordered to dip hands in hot oil to prove chastity

Chittoor : In a shocking incident, a wife Gangamma was forced to prove her ‘purity’ by dipping her hands in a hot oil but was stopped at the last minute by a woman officer in ST colony under Thenepalli panchayat in Puthalapattu mandal on on Saturday.

Suspecting the fidelity of his wife, Gundaiah, complained to the panchayat elders who ordered Gangamma to test her ‘chastity’. She was directed by the elders to put her hands in the boiling oil for which the hapless woman agreed.

As per the direction of the elders, the woman was brought to the junction in the village where a decorated pot with boiling oil on a wood fire was kept ready for the woman to dip her hands in it, even as the women and men who gathered silently looked on.

At this juncture, Puthalapattu MPDO Gowri came rushing and stopped the woman from going ahead with the superstitious ritual of dipping her hands in the boiling oil.

Following a tip-off, the woman officer came to the village to prevent the evil practice of putting hands in boiling oil to prove the innocence or purity of a person, which is still in vogue in several places in the country. If the person who was put to test came out unscathed after dipping his hands in the hot oil, his innocence stands proved.

Gowri after reprimanding Gundaiah took him to Puthalapattu police station where a senior official along with MPDO counselled him before he was let off after a warning. Interestingly, the husband and wife were above 50 years of age and have four children, all married with kids.