World | India
Dalit widow beaten, paraded naked
Victim's son had eloped with girl from upper caste community in Maharashtra
- By Pamela Raghunath, Correspondent
- Published: 00:00 January 12, 2012
Mumbai: A Dalit widow was beaten and paraded naked in Satara district, Maharashtra, after her 22-year-old son eloped with a girl from a upper caste community.
Dalit is a designation for a group of people traditionally regarded as lowercaste people in the controversial Indian caste system.
The incident occurred on Monday afternoon in Mulgaon village of Patan block, some 35 kilometres from Satara town, when the victim, Rekha Chavan, 42, had gone to fetch water when she was beaten up by the girl's family opposed to the match.
Authorities have denied that the woman was stripped and paraded naked. Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan hails from Satara district.
The victim has been admitted to a hospital in Karad for injuries and five people have been booked following her complaints with to police.
"As per the preliminary reports, the victim was not paraded naked but it was a straight fight between her and relatives of the girl who had eloped with Chavan's son," Dr N Ramaswami, Collector and District Magistrate, Satara, told Gulf News over telephone.
The girl had eloped with the boy on November 18 2011. He said the Dalit woman was beaten up and admitted to hospital.
"We have registered a case against five people and the police are still collecting evidence. They will be arrested soon," he said and added, "Don't sensationalise it."
Police have booked Krishna Desai, Hambirrao Desai, Shantabai Desai, Sunanda Vishwas Desai and Sunanda Hambirrao who include the parents and relatives of the girl.
The parents had filed a complaint after the couple went missing but decided to vent their anger against the boy's mother on Monday. The couple could not be traced yet.
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