Yet another horrific gang rape has grabbed headlines in India. This time, a village council in the Indian state of West Bengal ordered the rapes as punishment. The crime: falling in love and planning to marry.

The couple was nabbed after the young man went to the young woman’s home with a proposal of marriage. In the all-male council’s eyes, such a union between a Muslim man and an Adivasi woman — perfectly legal under Indian law — was unacceptable.

Hauled to the village square, the man and woman were ordered to pay a fine of 27,000 Indian rupees each. When the 20-year-old woman’s family protested it was too poor to pay, the council ordered the woman raped as punishment. Thirteen men, including the village chief, are alleged to have raped the woman.

In rural India, village councils, known as khap panchayats, routinely mete out such horrific punishments. Couples discovered in relationships of which councils do not approve even risk being murdered in so-called honor killings. India’s rapid modernization has given young women enhanced opportunities and freedoms, which these self-appointed guardians of patriarchal tradition view as a grave threat. In response, they have cracked down, banning women’s use of cellphones, dictating conservative dress codes and even condemning women’s education.