India village bans women from using phones “to stop rape and immorality”

Authorities in an Indian village has reportedly banned girls under 18 from possessing or using mobile phones.

It’s not clear if the ban applies to boys within the same age range.

But the village heads are pretty sure the ban would prevent girls from being immoral, and also reduce their chances of getting raped. Wow.

The ban takes effect in Basauli village, Aligarh in India’s north. According to reports, families of violators will be punished by having to sweep village roads.

If caught, violators’ parents would have to sweep the village roads for 500m for five days, or pay hefty penalties of up to Rs 1,000 (about N2,900), reports say.

The ban also applies to all unmarried women, some reports claim.

The authorities have told villagers to not bother informing the police about the ban many term “ridiculous.”

Here’s why village heads enforced the ban:

Girls get spoiled and get involved in relationships with boys at a young age because they use phones. This further leads to crime against them. In our times, there were no such problems, but this technology has spoiled them and we needed to curb it.

The ban comes at a time Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s launched an ambitious project to connect Indians with smartphones under the Digital India initiative.

Apart from banning girls from using mobile phones, the village also ordered a complete ban on liquor sale and consumption, reports say.

If anyone was found selling or drinking liquor, he too would have to clean village roads, reports say..