Teenaged tribal woman stripped, paraded naked for eloping

Bhopal: Two crimes involving teenaged tribal women have shaken Alirajpur district in Madhya Pradesh’s Jhabua region.

While no case has been registered in the incident of a 19-year-old girl who was stripped naked and paraded for eloping with a boy of another tribe, another 19-year-old girl has been arrested for allegedly abducting a 17-year-old girl with whom she was in a same-sex relationship.

A purported video of Saturday’s incident involving stripping and parading of the woman by her community members went viral on social media on Tuesday. The woman wearing a petticoat and blouse is seen being beaten with sticks by persons chasing her while she was screaming and begging for mercy in the local dialect.

Several passersby overlooked the entire incident and moved on.

Sub Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) R.C. Bhakar said police started an investigation into the incident after video of the incident went viral.

The investigation so far revealed that the incident occurred at Temachi village under Ambua Police Station of Alirajpur district, Bhakar said.

He said no complaint has been made in this regard so far because the victim in the incident and her father were not available to record their statements.

The police officer said that the entire incident could be known only after the statements of the girl and her father.

He said that the girl seen in the video belongs to Bhilala community and she was reportedly in love with a man of Bheel community. This had angered her family as the Bhilalas consider themselves superior to the Bheels in the local tribal hierarchy.

The second incident involves a lesbian couple where the minor girl said that she has been in love with the 19-year-old girl who dresses in male attire and sees her as her “husband”.

The incident occurred at Pangola village, some 50 kms from the district headquarters.

SDOP Bhakar said the father of the 17-year-old girl had registered a case against Rang Bai (19) for abducting his daughter about two months back.

Police recovered the couple on Tuesday and recorded their statement.

The minor was handed over to the family members while the 19-year-old woman would be produced in court on Wednesday, Bhakar added.

The woman was arrested under section 363 (kidnapping).

The minor said that she had eloped with Rang Bai last year also and they lived together in Gujarat for five months.

Published on: Sep 4, 2019 at 15:56 IST

IANS