As many as 10 villages in western Uttar Pradesh have banned women from using mobile phones and wearing jeans and T-shirts after a local village council issued a diktat on the grounds that it leads to an increase in crime rate.
Issuing the ban order, the 17-member Muslim council members noted that the new rule will help prevent crimes against women. Another leader told ANI that the women in villages must live as per the rules of the land.
"The kind of clothes that unmarried girls in our community wear, for example netted or if they are semi-clothed, this is not decent according to the rules of Islam," Mohammad Irfan, the president of the council told ANI.
"Such attire are allowed in cities, but in villages we will not allow them, and so we have banned it," Irfan added.
The ban has been implemented in at least 10 villages of Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur districts.
Justifying the village council decision, a local resident said that crime increases when unmarried girls use mobile phones.
"We don't think it is good for unmarried girls to use mobile phones. God forbid, if they talk to someone (men), it results in increase of crimes and mischief, so we have banned it. In fact, I think only the married men, the responsible men should carry mobile phones," said Mohammad Akbar, a resident told ANI.
