A dozen girls parade naked to invoke the rain, an open investigation

A dozen naked girls marched in public in a small village in central India, affected by drought, to invoke the rain, reports Vice relayed by Slatethis Friday. A video of this procession was posted on social networks. The children would be under 5 years old. In the images, we see them advancing with a wooden handle and going from door to door.

The girls are followed by a procession of older women. One of them then approached the camera and explained that this ritual was to save the withered rice crops by invoking the rain god. Widely relayed on social networks, these images shocked some Internet users.

No complaint filed

At the request of the Indian National Commission for the Protection of the Rights of the Child, an investigation was opened. “We are investigating the case, but so far there have been no complaints from the girls or their families about this ritual,” said the Damoh District Police Commissioner.

It is in particular the question of consent that worries many activists. A notion which is however difficult to determine, since the rituals are part of a certain social norm. Indeed, processions are not uncommon in the world, and especially in India. In this country, tradition associates rain and fertility with the female body. But other rites exist to invoke the rain. Thus, men may be asked to roll on a bed of thorns, or unmarried women may be asked to plow bare fields.