There have been reports over the last two years that local village councils, or salish, have without legal authority tried, convicted and sentenced people to flogging and to death. Cases include the public lashing of Shefali, aged 14, and her mother in Dohar Thana in April 1992. On 1 September 1993 a salish in Kalikapur village, Satkhira district, sentenced a 16-year-old girl, Feroza, to public flogging. She died shortly afterwards. On 10 January 1993 Noorjahan Begum, aged about 21, was stoned to death after her second marriage was declared illegal. Her husband, Motaleb, was also sentenced to stoning, but survived. On 5 May another young woman called Noorjahan was publicly burned in Dokhin Sripur village, Faridpur district.
