Close on the heels of the incidents of a tribal woman set afire by land encroachers in Guna and one paraded with husband on shoulders in Dewas, another incident of a tribal woman beaten up and paraded with husband on shoulders came to light from Khargone district on Wednesday.
The incident occurred on June 30 at Keli village under Oon police station of Khargone, but the videos of the same went viral on Tuesday evening, following which the police registered an FIR. Eight accused, including husband and nephews of the woman and those who had shot the videos have been arrested, sub-divisional officer of police (SDOP), Khargone, Rakesh Mohan Shukla told THE WEEK.
The Khargone superintendent of police (SP) Dharmveer Singh called it an isolated incident and said the police had taken due legal steps as soon as it came to their notice. Giving details of the incident, the SP said the accused husband, a resident of Nangalwadi in Barwani district, had been lodged in jail for the murder of his father for seven years, and during that time, the woman, along with her two children, had stayed with her brothers in Keli village.
A few months ago, the husband was released and the woman went to live with him, but returned soon due to mental and physical abuse. However, when the brothers were reluctant to let her stay with them for long, she was sheltered by her uncle who stayed alone.
The villagers, especially people belonging to her community, objected to this and alleged that the woman might be having an illicit relationship with her uncle. On June 29, a community panchayat was held and the woman agreed to move back with her husband. Later she changed her mind and went back to her uncle’s home. The husband and nephews of the woman then took her out of the uncle’s home, thrashed her and paraded her with husband on her shoulders, the SP said.
“The video came to our notice at around 7.00pm on Tuesday after which the woman was called and counselled to lodge an FIR. As many as 25 persons have been named in the FIR and eight have been arrested. The persons who shot the video have also been arrested as they failed to intervene and allowed the crime to take place and kept shooting videos,” Singh told THE WEEK.
On July 2, a woman in Guna district was set afire by village strongmen who had encroached upon her agriculture land. The woman is battling for life in a Bhopal hospital. On July 3, videos of a woman being beaten up, disrobed and paraded with a garland of shoes around her neck and husband on her shoulders, went viral, leading Dewas police to register an FIR and arrest 12 people, including her husband.
Former chief minister Kamal Nath had attacked the state government viciously over the incidents, questioning the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan about safety and honour of the tribals in the state.
