GUWAHATI: While on the one hand the entire state of Assam is still mourning over the news of Nilotpal Das and Abhijeet Nath lynching, another case has come to light of a couple being trashed by the mob in Goalpara district of Assam, in the name of “moral policing.”
According to a senior police officer, the woman (22) divorced, and the man (25) married are both local residents of the area. The couple were on a bike near Simalutala area in Goalpara’s Pukhupar village when the mob waylaid the couple and attacked them barbarously for travelling together.
However, the police reached the spot and managed to rescue the couple from the mob.
Few people circulated a video of the unmarried couple being tortured which has gone viral on social media. The video shows a youth mercilessly thrashing the girl with a bamboo stick while the others watched the incident following which two people have been arrested. The video sparked outrage and strong reaction from the citizens.
The brother of the man who was attacked claimed that the villagers held a meeting and forced the couple to get married.
Assam Director General of Police Kuladhar Saikia said that investigation on the case are going on.
The prime accused Qurban Ali (38) was arrested while the other person was picked up this morning.
Goalpara Deputy Commissioner, Varnali Deka, confirmed the arrest, “We have registered a suo motu case and arrested an accused visible in the video. The incident took place on June 17. It appears to be a case of moral policing,” Deka said.
They were booked under various IPC sections including 342 (wrongful confinement), 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) and 354b (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe).
The incident was followed by another such incident in the same district that came to light on April 9, when a woman was assaulted by a group of men when she was accompanying a male friend to a medical centre at Krishnai. This incident was also termed as “moral policing” by the authorities.
At least 12 people were arrested in the case, in which the woman was assaulted for going out with a male friend.