Young women in a village in India have been banned from wearing jeans and T-shirts because elders say they encourage rape.

Lawmakers in Khedar, in the Hisar region of northwest India, implemented the ban as part of a raft of measures designed to reduce sex attacks in the area.

Alcohol has also been outlawed while throwing a 'DJ party' will now carry a fine of 11,000 rupees (￡125).

Khedar village patriarch Sarpanch Shamsher Singh told the Times of India: 'We have decided to ban alcohol as it is the main reason behind rapes. We have also banned jeans and T-shirts for girl students as it is not a proper dress.'

But while the decree may prove unpopular among young people in the town, it has been welcomed by older members of the village.

Shanti Devi, a middle-aged woman present at the panchayat, said: 'The decision of the panchayat is good and will check the harassment of girls. Poor dressing is the main reason behind rapes.'

Meanwhile, a judge today ordered the trial of the five men accused of the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student in Delhi be held 'in-camera' for the suspects' own safety after chaotic courtroom scenes.

More than 150 people tried to cram into a courtroom meant to fit just 30 people for the first hearing of the men charged with the abduction, gang rape and murder of Jyoti Singh Pandey.

The 23-year-old physiotherapy student died in a Singapore hospital 13 days after being attacked as she made her way home from the cinema in New Delhi.

The woman was thrown naked from the moving vehicle into the street where she lay for up to half an hour before anybody called emergency services. Days later she died from her injuries.

Government data show the number of reported rape cases in the country rose by nearly 17 percent between 2007 and 2011.

And in New Delhi - known as the rape capital of India - one rape is reported every 18 hours.

(Read by Brian Salter. Brian Salter is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)