55-year old widow paraded naked in Punjab village

Amritsar, Sep 9 (UNI) In a bizarre incident a 55-year old dalit widow was paraded naked and then tied her to a tree in Ram Diwali village in Amritsar rural police district this morning.

Four persons of the village identified as Shingara Singh, Gurmit Singh, Rattan Singh and Amarjit Kaur were taken into custody by the police team which arrived in the village and freed the hapless victim. All the arrested are dalits and were booked under sections 452, 354, 342, 509, 323, 148, 149 and 120-B of the IPC.

Giving details, SSP Iqbal Singh said that the widow was first beaten and then stripped naked and paraded in the village.

Thereafter she was tied to a tree and was only freed when a police team from Kathunangal police station arrived in the village on getting information of the incident, he added.

The SSP said that the prime accused in the incident was Shingara Singh whose daughter had eloped with a nephew of the widow last month. This had infurated Shingara Singh and he had sworn to take revenge.

Mr Iqbal Singh said that Shingara Singh alongwith his family members and other members of the dalit community of the village went to the house of the widow this morning. After beating her, they blackened her face, stripped her naked and paraded her in the village, he added.

The alleged accused then tied her to a tree and left her there, he said. The police acted promptly on getting information and went to the village and freed the hapless widow, he added.

The SSP said that the panchayat members are also being questioned as none of them came to the rescue of the victim. He did not rule out the possibility of further arrests in the case.

UNI