In India and other parts of South Asia, clan councils have long worked outside the legal system as enforcers of centuries-old social codes and traditions. Experts say these largely male bodies serve an important function in settling small property disputes and marital discord in remote villages. But their brutal punishments — often aimed at women — have garnered international headlines, and India’s Supreme Court has said these groups should be illegal.

Last month, the Indian state of Maharashtra passed a new law limiting the behavior of clan councils after several disturbing incidents, including one case in which a teenage girl was whipped because she was too scared to say that her father had raped her.

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