Dubai: She screamed and begged for mercy, but nothing stopped the men from brutally thrashing the 19-year-old with sticks, stripping her and parading her half-naked. These men were her own family and she was being punished. What for? The tribal woman's alleged crime was that she had fallen in love and eloped with a man from a different tribe.
A disturbing video of this incident that occurred in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh's Alirajpur district on September 1, has gone viral on Twitter.
We may have reached the 21st century, but caste-based violence still exists in India. Twitter users who shared the video are shocked.
Indian filmmaker Vinod Kapri shared the video by Indian journalist Makarand Kale on Tuesday and wrote: “OMG. This is horrible: [A] young tribal woman paraded, beaten over inter-caste affair in MP.”
The one-minute-42-seconds long video, shot on a mobile phone, shows the girl being flogged with sticks endlessly as she keeps on walking fast on the road in a bid to save herself from the men beating her. They are also seen trying to strip her and as she is paraded half-naked. Passers-by ignore. Is this a norm then?
According to media reports, the police began an investigation in the matter and found that the victim is a 19-year-old Bhilala tribal woman and was punished by male members of her family as she tried eloping with a Bheel man.
Indian news website news18.com reported that the Jobat Sub Divisional Officer of Police, R C Bhakar confirmed the police started an investigation after the video came out. The incident took place at Temachi village, but nobody has filed any complaint so far, the police officer said.
The victim and her father were not in the village so their statements could not be recorded, he said.
Details of the incident could be ascertained only after recording their statements, Bhakar added. Her other family members, who too were out of the village, were being contacted, he said.
Some tweeps tagged lawmakers in the state to highlight the case. @cktenny posted: "Dear congress, please take action against these idiots. It's 2019, and in rural areas people are still living in the stone age."
@sandyj1712 couldn’t understand why no legal action was being taken when laymen take it upon themselves to administer what they think is justice, the tweep posted: “Do we have a law or just gone by now? Sad reality of India. These should be booked immediately and should be behind the bars.”
And @RichaChadha added: "Leering, jeering, unemployed, ugly men policing everyone else, ever ready to kill, maim, lynch. If you feel safe today, think again. Where do you think the ‘mob’ lives? Yeah, around us, amongst us. Men in this video belong in jail. They are a liability to the country."
Some tweeps highlighted that such cases were mostly of violence against women.
@HennaK1986: "This has been happening since I know India. It’s already 2019 and it’s still going on. Women remain an object for some Indian men who they can abuse whenever & wher they want... These men need psychological help!! #stopwomenabuse #india"
In June, a 21-year-old tribal woman was assaulted with sticks by her family members in Madhya Pradesh for allegedly eloping with a Dalit man, police said Sunday, adding that they have arrested four persons. A police officer said the family members of the woman, a resident of Gatbori village, about 90 kms from Dhar, were angry over her affair with the man with whom she had eloped recently, but later returned home.
And, @BhushanRanade7 added: “Inhuman, the society who insults women dies its own death soon.”
India is the most dangerous country in the world to be a woman, according to a 2018 international survey published by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The opinion survey with 550 experts on women’s issues found India to be the most dangerous nation for sexual violence against women, as well as human trafficking for domestic work, forced labour, forced marriage and sexual slavery, among other reasons.
