‘They barged into our home, assaulted us, forcibly removed our clothes, dragged us out and paraded us all around the village,’ says a victim
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – In a shocking incident in the Kushinagar district of Uttar Pradesh, the family of a Muslim youth, who had eloped with a girl from another community, became the target of brutal vigilante justice.
The enraged members of the girl’s family stripped the youth’s mother and two aunts and paraded them naked in the village. The ghastly incident occurred on January 2, reports reaching here said on Tuesday.
The boy and girl, reportedly in love for months, fled their homes to escape familial opposition. The elopement sparked outrage in the girl’s community, leading to a mob descending upon the boy’s household. In the appalling display of revenge, the mob humiliated the three women by forcibly stripping them and parading them naked in public.
Eyewitness accounts reveal that the women pleaded for mercy, but their cries went unheard. Shockingly, some bystanders captured the incident on their cell phones instead of helping the victims. A video of the sordid episode has since gone viral, drawing widespread condemnation from human rights activists and the general public alike.
https://twitter.com/HateDetectors/status/1876544577798377813
The girl’s maternal family, according to reports, was involved in the gory incident. The assaulters also filmed the odious act.
The girl reportedly belongs to the Dalit community and a resident of the Gulriha police station area in Gorakhpur and is said to be already married.
A woman victim told mediapersons: “They barged into our home, assaulted us, forcibly removed our clothes, dragged us out and paraded us all around the village.”
The assaulters reportedly got furious when the three women told them that they did not know where their girl might be. On hearing this, they were enraged and started to hit the women.
According to the aunt of the boy nine women and four men beat them and burnt their clothes
The local police, upon learning of the incident, launched an investigation and arrested several individuals.
Kushinagar Police have registered a case of assault. However, a senior police official said that allegations of women being assaulted and paraded naked haven’t been proven yet.
The incident stands as a harrowing reminder of the work still required to ensure that women, regardless of their circumstances, can live with dignity and safety.
