DHAKA - THE cuts on Rahima Begum's legs are healing but the unmarried mother of one will carry the psychological scars from a public whipping for revealing the father of her child for a long time to come.

Ms Rahima's punishment was to be caned 39 times in front of elders and Islamic clerics.

The case shocked many in Bangladesh, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ordering Ms Rahima to be moved from a small village hospital in Comilla to one of the best in the capital Dhaka. There, she is receiving treatment, including counselling, a month after the beating.

Human rights groups say Ms Rahima's plight is becoming increasingly common in Bangladesh, with hardline clerics taking the law into their own hands and handing down harsh punishments, mostly to women, found guilty by village courts.

The so-called crimes heard by the courts - most common in rural areas, and not recognised as legitimate - range from adultery to being raped, and in one case a Muslim woman was whipped for talking to a Hindu man.

Women's groups and human rights activists have protested the unexplained rise in caning cases in the past two months, and note that many such incidents of violence probably go unreported.

'We've recorded 15 such incidents in May and June. We've never seen such a sharp rise in cases. It's very worrying,' said Ayesha Khanam, president of the women's group Bangladesh Mahila Parishad. 'There are undoubtedly many more than have gone unreported.'

In Ms Rahima's case, police arrested the men who whipped her, but campaigners say most get away with the beatings because the kangaroo courts have until recently largely been ignored by authorities. --AFP