Thursday, July 26, 2012

Jul 25, 2012: Eight held for stripping of woman, CM orders probe

TNN | Jul 24, 2012, 04.18AM IST
JAIPUR: A day after a married woman and her paramour were tied to a tree, stripped and severely beaten for nearly three hours before a crowd of 1,000 people under orders of a caste panchayat at Sarada area in Udaipur district, the police arrested eight men including the woman's husband on Monday. The two were 'punished' for having an illicit affair by the panchayat, said police.
Chief minister Ashok Gehlot directed Udaipur divisional commissioner to probe the matter and prepare a report in a week.
SP, Udaipur Hari Prasad Sharma told TOI that the woman's husband Hamji Meena had stripped her half naked in front of villagers. "The woman had registered an FIR against 12 identified and several others unidentified people with the Sarada police station on Sunday evening. Of them eight have been arrested while the search is on for others," Sharma said.
The officer said, "The eight men including Hamji, a former sarpanch Nandlal and five others were booked under Sections 147 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 365 (kidnapping), 323 (causing hurt), 342 (wrongful confinement), 354 (assaulting a woman to outrage her modesty) and 504 (breach of peace). A separate FIR has been lodged for attacking policemen who had gone there to rescue the couple."
Police said 27-year-old Prakash Meena was having an affair with the 22-year-old woman living in the neighbourhood Limbat Falan near Kolan village in the area. Prakash and the woman had fled the village a fortnight ago. The villagers were looking for the couple and they found them near Keshiriyaji area in Udaipur.
The villagers brought them back and kept them confined throughout the night. "A panchayat was called on Sunday morning in which the woman's husband and her in-laws were present. They demanded action against the two," the officer said.
The villagers and half-a-dozen panchayat leaders gathered around 9.30 am. Soon, Prakash and the woman were tied to a tree.
Her husband stripped her and the youth in front of the crowd, and then cut their hair. The police came to know about the incident around 11.30 am and a team was rushed.
"When the cops reached the spot, the villagers surrounded them and started hurling stones. Some vehicles were damaged and two policemen sustained minor injuries," he added.
The cops managed to untie the couple from the tree but could not take them out of the area. Later, they were taken to a government school around 4 pm and then to the police station.
Chief minister Gehlot called the incident unfortunate. "No one has the right to take the law into their hands. The divisional commissioner has been asked to carry out a thorough enquiry into the incident," said Gehlot.
Link: Eight held for stripping of woman, CM orders probe

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