Women in India protest against the rape and murder of a young woman in Delhi, as India consistently ranks as one of the worst countries in the world for sexual violence. Photo / Getty Images
Six young girls were stripped naked and paraded through a village in northern India as part of a ritual to summon rains, sparking outrage across the country.
Video footage from the drought-stricken village in the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh was shared on social media, showing naked girls below the
age of 10 carrying heavy wooden flails that had a frog tied to them.
The girls, some reportedly as young as 5, led a procession of the village's women who sang songs of devotion to the Hindu gods and collected grain from each household in the village, before donating the food to the community kitchen of a local temple.
Such rain rituals are common in many parts of rural India but do not usually involve child nudity. The parents had given permission for their daughters to participate, but the girls said they had been forced.
India's National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and the Madhya Pradesh police said they are launching an inquiry and would take action against any individual who had recorded and shared video footage of the girls.
