Three people with their faces covered have been arrested for parading an elderly woman naked in Punjab (Image Source: X and Dainik Bhaskar)
In a horrifying and shameful incident, a 55-year-old woman was reportedly assaulted and paraded naked by her son’s in-laws in Valtoha village, Tarn Taran on March 31, after he got married against the wishes of the girl’s parents.
The victim, alone at home, was allegedly attacked and stripped by the son’s in-laws who then paraded her in the village.
The video of the incident surfaced on social media on Friday (April 6).
Five individuals, including Kulwinder Kaur Mani, Sharanjit Singh Shanni, and Gurcharan Singh, have been implicated in the case.
Based on the complaint, an FIR was registered on April 3 under the Indian Penal Code sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354B (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe), 354D (stalking), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 149 (unlawful assembly).
The victim woman who is a resident of Jeevan Nagar stated in her complaint that her son Akashdeep Singh had married Ramandeep Kaur, their neighbour Baldev Singh’s daughter in court. The two had left home on February 24 and tied the knot on March 9.
The victim women also stated that she went to the police and made a complaint on the night of March 31, however, the cops didn’t take action against the culprits even after filing a report.
However, Station House Officer Sunita Rani claimed that the woman came to record a complaint on April 2 and wanted to settle the issue with the offenders rather than initiating legal action against them.
Four arrests have been made as of now, as per the police.
SSP Ashwani Kapur said “the victim was alone at her home when Kulwinder Kaur (the girl’s mother), along with Gurcharan, Sharanjit, Sunny and one unknown person, came to her house to avenge the marriage and following heated arguments, they started assaulting her and also tore off her clothes. The video of a purported incident, wherein the victim was seen paraded naked, was also made viral through social media by the accused persons,” he said.
“The main accused, Gursharan, the girl’s brother, filmed a video of the woman… They waited for a few days before filing a complaint, hoping to reconcile things at home. But as soon as the FIR was filed, the accused made the video go viral on social media… Police teams were formed and one of the teams found success when they learned that the accused was at the Amritsar bus stand and trying to flee the state. He was arrested there,” said SSP Tarn Taran.
The National Commission for Women (NCW) took a suo moto cognizance of the matter, calling it “deeply disturbing” and “appalling”.
NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma also directed the Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) to take swift action against the accused.
“Nobody came forward to help the woman, neither the police nor the locals…This is a shocking incident and NCW has taken a suo moto cognizance of the matter. I am sending a member to enquire into the matter. If the police do not take any step against the perpetrators, NCW will write to the ECI keeping in mind the Model Code of Conduct,” she said.
Condemning the incident, Shiromani Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal said, “Condemnation of this incident in the strongest of words will not suffice. The way the modesty of our women is being played with on the streets is shameful. Our gurus have always honoured our women, but today, under the leadership of this useless government, men have paraded a woman in her village after tearing her clothes. 15 days passed away and the police did not catch anyone?”
She further said, “Our CM is sitting in Delhi and staging protests in favour of that corrupt Arvind Kejriwal… If you want to protest against anything, it should be against your own police who did not take action for 15 days in this heinous crime. They should feel ashamed that such incidents are taking place under the leadership of the AAP government which are shameful for the entire Punjabi community.”
Criticising the Bhagwant Maan Govt, BJP leader SS Channy said, “The current AAP government in Punjab has failed to protect the rights of women. Moreover, ever since the incident occurred, no one took any action. The woman has been running from pillar to post but no one listened to her. The CM of the state has more time and energy to seek an appointment with his party Chief in Delhi’s Tihar Jail but has no time to take care of his state affairs. He has shown what the Taliban did to Afghanistan is being done here in Punjab”.
Netizens are criticising CM Bhagwant Mann, for his double standards. When he demanded President’s rule in Manipur after a woman was stripped naked. However, now that a similar incident has occurred in Tarn Taran, he remains silent, and even the Punjab police took action after 15 days.
The also pointed out that Bhagwant Mann is sitting in Delhi, staging protests in favour of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal who has been arrested on corruption charges, but seems to have no time for his own state.
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