Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 2: In a re-enactment of the recent horrible incident in Manipur, a tribal woman was beaten, stripped naked, and paraded through her village in Pratapgarh district in Rajasthan allegedly by her husband to “punish” her for being in relationship with another man.
The incident was said to be of Thursday, the police said on Saturday. A video on the incident that has gone viral on the social media show a man, allegedly the husband, stripping the 21-year-old woman outside their home and parading her naked as she screamed for help.
According to the police, the woman was allegedly in a relationship with another man, which triggered the attack on her. “We have arrested seven men, including the husband of the accused, and four others have been detained in connection with the case,” Pratapgarh District Superintendent of Police Amit Kumar said.
Unhappy that she was living with another man despite being married, the woman’s in-laws allegedly kidnapped her and took her to their village where she was beaten and paraded naked, Rajasthan’s Director General of Police (DGP) Umesh Mishra said. Six teams have been formed to arrest the accused and Pratapgarh’s Superintendent of Police Amit Kumar is camping in the village, the top cop said.
With the Assembly elections in Rajasthan round the corner, the BJP, which refused to take any action against its party government in Manipur despite the horrid incidents and continuous disturbances in the north-eastern state, pounced on the Congress government in Rajasthan apparently to take political advantage of the incident.
The union minister from Rajasthan Gajendra Singh Shekhawat demanded the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to seek the chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s resignation on the issue, while the party’s national president JP Nadda played the BJP’s same old track of the Congress being “one family party.”
The ruling party is “busy settling factional squabbles,” Nadda said in an apparent reference to the power tussle between Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot. “The remaining time is spent appeasing one dynasty in Delhi,” he added, fuelling the party’s long-standing fight against dynastic politics of the Congress. “The issue of women’s safety is being completely ignored in the state,” Nadda said, adding, “The people of Rajasthan will teach the state Government a lesson,” pointing to the upcoming state elections.
Gehlot condemned the incident in a late-night tweet on Friday and said: “In Pratapgarh district, a video of a woman being stripped naked by her in-laws due to a family dispute with her in-laws has surfaced. The Director General of Police has been instructed to send the ADG Crime to the spot and take the strictest action in this matter. There is no place for such criminals in a civilized society. These criminals will be put behind bars as soon as possible and will be tried and punished in the fast track court.”
To blunt the opposition attack on the government, Gehlot was also the first senior political leader to reach Pratapgarh and meet the family members of the victim and assured them of strictest possible action against the perpetrators of the heinous crime.
The Congress MLA from the Dhariyawad Assembly, Nagraj Meena, said, “I came to know about this incident around 9 pm on Friday. I held a discussion with the District Collector and the District Superintendent of Police… The incident cannot be condemned enough. Such incidents should not happen. The police will take immediate action on this.”
In a statement, DGP Umesh Mishra earlier said 10 people have been named in the FIR for molestation, thrashing the woman besides other relevant sections. Of these, eight men, including the main accused, have been detained, it said. He said the victim lodged a complaint against her husband Kanha Gameti along with Suraj, Beniya, Netiya, Nathu and Mahendra for forcibly taking her on a motorcycle and parading her naked.
“The main accused Kanha, Netiya, Beniya and Pintu and a minor have been detained apart from spectators of the crime Punia, Khetia and Motilal,” the police statement said earlier. Police also said that Kanha, Netiya and Benia got injured while trying to flee and are being treated at Pratapgarh district hospital. Initial investigation revealed that the woman was in a relationship with another man, said Dhariyawad SHO Peshawar Khan.
Earlier, Sekhawat tweeted the alleged video of the shocker and said the incident has laid bare the hypocrisy of the Congress. He asked if Rahul Gandhi would seek Ashok Gehlot’s resignation and demand President’s rule in the state, as he drew parallels to the Opposition’s demand when a horrific video from Manipur showed women being paraded naked through the streets before being allegedly gang-raped in the adjacent fields. Manipur has been witnessing a long-drawn ethnic strife between the Meitei and the Kuki communities.
“In Rajasthan, all the limits of inhumanity on women have been crossed. In Dhariyawad, a woman has been stripped and beaten, the video of which is viral, but Gehlot ji, who makes tall claims on women’s safety, is the Chief Minister and Home Minister of which state? Two days have passed, and the police have not even prepared the report! The hypocrisy of the Congress has been exposed now. Where is Rahul Gandhi? When will he come to Dhariyawad? When will he seek Ashok Gehlot’s resignation and demand President’s rule in Rajasthan?” Shekhawat tweeted.
The Rajasthan State Human Rights Commission directed the Pratapgarh District Superintendent of Police to provide immediate financial assistance to the victim and investigate the matter thoroughly. “On behalf of the chairman of the Commission, Justice Gopal Krishna Vyas, the Superintendent of Police has been instructed to send the case of the victim to the District Legal Aid Committee, Pratapgarh for compensation under the Compensation Policy 2011, so that the victim can get immediate financial assistance and the case is resolved.
“After conducting a thorough investigation in the matter, submit the complete documents along with the investigation report to a senior officer for perusal of the Commission by September 14,” the rights body said.