How else to explain that intelligent, well-educated and independent women like Hamidah Ali, Alya B.

CNN: LETTERS AND COMMENT

The next day, the village elders met to discuss the case at Mahbub Khan's house, Alya said.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Hena struggled to escape, Alya told CNN.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Many months later on a winter night, as Hena's sister Alya told it, Hena was walking from her room to an outdoor toilet when Mahbub Khan gagged her with cloth, forced her behind nearby shrubbery and beat and raped her.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS