In the hope of a better life after five years of an abusive marriage, a woman had decided to elope with a man who she thought would change her life for the better. She thought her misery would end. But luck had something else in store. She was pronounced guilty by villagers.
In the dead of the night on September 25, she was bathed in cold water by women of a village in Arunachal Pradesh’s Changlang district. She was pulled out of the vehicle. Her clothes ripped apart, abuses hurled and filmed. She ran away trying to save herself from the humiliation, but the video of the incident has now gone viral.
Her fault? She ran away with another married man after staying in an abusive marriage for five years, the News 18 reported.
The police have filed an FIR and a list of 38 people has been made in connection with the heinous crime. So far, 15 people have been arrested, including 9 women.
The decision to elope was not taken in haste. “Several meetings between my family and the in-laws were not fruitful and my fate did not change,” she said.
Recalling the torture in her marriage by her husband, she said, “I had a miscarriage when he kicked me in my abdomen one night. After that, there was one more miscarriage. I had to be admitted once in the hospital when the brutality was extreme. My mother-in-law sided her son to hit me and this was routine.”
The man she eloped with was aware of her condition and that she was brutally assaulted by her husband for five years, the woman claimed.
She said that the other man after seeing her condition had proposed to marry her. She refused. However, on one September night, she decided to escape the torture and fled to Assam’s Tinsukia with the man.
Soon after, the couple was contacted by the man’s family. The family called the couple to the village in Arunachal, promising to embrace their relationship.
“Nitul’s family contacted us and called us to the village. They assured that they would accept and embrace us back in the family. Initially, we refused but later we thought to go and be with our own family. It was at midnight on September 25 that we reached our village in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh,” she said as quoted by the article.
On the night of the incident, most of the villagers had gathered at a spot and a few elderly women pulled the victim out of the car and ripped her clothes.
She was then bathed in cold water and her hair was chopped, Lekang’s Women Welfare Association of Narcotics Cell informed.
The women in the village further took turns to strip her off the remaining clothes while the incident was being recorded by the men, even as the victim tried to hide.
The victim was made to sleep in a school without clothes and was not given food until the next morning.
The videos were later shared on social media, that have now gone viral. The man who eloped with her was also thrashed when he tried to stop the villagers from assaulting the woman.
According to the report, locals justified their brutality blaming the woman for “shaming” the community. After this incident, villagers held a community meeting to discuss the future course of action, however, the woman’s family was not called.
Following the discussion, a unanimous decision was taken to shunt the victim out of the village and the other man was ordered to sever ties with her. The victim’s grandfather was given Rs 40,000 as compensation.