DW BUREAU / Tarn Taran

A 55-year-old woman was assaulted and paraded semi-naked here allegedly by her son's in-laws after he got married against the wishes of the bride's parents, police said on Saturday. Four people of the five booked over the incident were arrested on Saturday, Station House Officer Sunita Bawa said.

The incident occurred on March 31 in a village, a few days after the victim's son eloped with a woman and married her against her family's wishes, police said.

According to the complaint filed by the victim, she was alone at her home when her son's in-laws allegedly assaulted her and tore off her clothes.

They paraded her in the village in a semi-naked condition, the victim alleged.

A purported video of the victim being paraded surfaced on social media on Friday.

The woman's mother Kulwinder Kaur Mani, her brothers Sharanjit Singh Shanni and Gurcharan Singh, and a family friend Sunny Singh were arrested the SHO said.

The accused will be produced in a court to seek their remand and the mobile phone used to make the video has also been seized, she said.

Efforts are being made to nab the fifth accused as well, she added. Based on the complaint, an FIR was registered on April 3 under the Indian Penal Code sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354B (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe), 354D (stalking), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 149 (unlawful assembly).

Meanwhile, the BJP on Saturday hit out at Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann over the assault of a woman who was also paraded semi-naked, alleging the state's law-and-order situation was worsening while he was busy doing politics over AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal's arrest. The reaction of the opposition party in Punjab came after the video of a 55-year-old woman being purportedly assaulted and paraded semi-naked surfaced on social media on Friday.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP's headquarters in Delhi, its national spokesperson R P Singh said, "A 55-year old woman was sexually assaulted, beaten up and paraded naked in Taran Taran's Valtoha village. This incident is shameful and has shaken everybody's conscience in Punjab." He cited other incidents of crime including rape, extortion and murder reported in Punjab and alleged that the law-and-order situation has been worsening in Punjab while Chief Minister Mann was busy

doing politics.
(editor@dailyworld.in)