A 55-year-old woman was assaulted and publicly paraded in semi-naked condition allegedly by her son's in-laws. the police on Saturday arrested four of the accused in the case.
The incident occurred after her son married against the wishes of the bride's parents.
The fifth suspect is still on the run according to Station House Officer Sunita Bawa.
What happened?
The incident took place in a village on March 31, shortly after the victim's son ran away with a woman and married her despite her family's objections.
According to the complaint filed by the victim, she was alone at her home when the girl's family who were against this marriage and the girl's mother, with her two sons and two other men, went to the boy's house eventually getting involved in a heated argument.
Advertisement
The two parties got into a scuffle, during which the victim's in-laws allegedly assaulted her and tore off her clothes.
According to SSP Tarn Taran Ashwani Kapoor, the main accused, Gursharan, the girl's brother filmed a video of the woman.
They paraded her in the village in a semi-naked condition, the victim alleged.
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.
What did NCW say?
National Commission for Women acknowledged the Tarn Taran incident and in a post on X wrote, "Deeply disturbed by the horrifying incident in Tarn Taran's Valtoha village, Punjab. The assault and semi-naked parade of a 55-year-old woman is appalling. Honourable Chairperson NCW Rekha Sharma has taken suo motu cognisance in the matter and has directed DGP Punjab to take swift action, to arrest the culprits and remove the circulated video."
Advertisement
NCW Chief Rekha Sharma told ANI, "... Nobody came forward to help her- 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..."
Police arrested 4 out of 5 of the accused
The son’s wife's mother Kulwinder Kaur Mani, her brothers Sharanjit Singh Shanni and Gursharan Singh, and a family friend Sunny Singh were arrested the SHO said.
The SSP said that Gusharan Singh was at the Amritsar bus stand and trying to flee the state where he was arrested by the police.
The accused will be produced in a court to seek their remand and the mobile phone used to make the video has also been seized, she said.
Efforts are being made to nab the fifth accused as well, she added.
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).
Advertisement
Politicians react
BJP leader from Chandigarh SS Channy spoke to ANI about the incident, he 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... The Punjab Commission of Women and the Government of Punjab have connived and the PCW Chairperson as well the CM of Punjab should resign."
Advertisement
Meanwhile 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? 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."
