At least 19 persons were arrested in Gujarat's Dahod district on Wednesday after a young tribal woman was stripped and paraded by her husband and others for allegedly running away with another man, police said.
The State Women's Commission also took notice of the shocking incident which came to light when a video made by the accused went viral, and sought a report from the district police. A First Information Report (FIR) was lodged on Tuesday and the woman's husband and 18 others -- most of them his relatives -- were arrested on Wednesday, sub-inspector B M Patel of Dhanpur police station said.
The incident took place at Khajuri village in the tribal-dominated Dhanpur tehsil on July 6, he said. The video showed the 23-year-old victim's husband and some other men dragging, hitting and stripping her in public in the presence of women and children, the police officer said.
They also forced her to carry her husband on her shoulders and walk. The video also showed some women trying to cover the victim with clothes but the accused snatching the clothes away, the officer said.
"The victim had allegedly eloped with another man. Her husband and some other villagers traced the duo and brought them back. On July 6, she was humiliated in full public view as punishment. We have arrested all the accused seen in the video," inspector Patel said.
They were booked for rioting, assault, criminal intimidation and insulting the modesty of a woman under the IPC and also under the Information Technology Act for making and circulating the video, the official said. The state women's commission, meanwhile, directed the Dahod superintendent of police to conduct a through probe and submit a report.
"I have asked the SP to arrest all the accused and ensure justice for the woman. Our team will visit the district and meet the woman who is now safe under police protection," said chairperson of the commission Leelaben Ankoliya.
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