The Raipur police of the district have booked an 80-year-old widow’s adopted son and six other relatives following a complaint, in which she accused them of parading her naked on a donkey after painting her face black in Chauhano Ki Kameri village, 70 km from here, on November 23.
The woman, Hari Bai Gurjar, alleged that the accused, trying to grab her share of agricultural land, committed the atrocities on her calling her a witch.
The Raipur police filed the case following intervention by superintendent of police Hemant Sharma on Saturday night. However, the police believe the woman filed a fake case to save her property from the relatives.
“There is no evidence such type of incident happened in the village, but Woman Safety and Help Centre forwarded this matter to me in the victim’s absence, so I had ordered the Raipur police to file the case and investigate the matter thoroughly,” said Sharma.
According to the police, Bai, a childless widow, has 25 percent share in 54 bigha agricultural land and two wells in the name of her family. After the death of her husband, she transferred her share of land in the name of her niece, Prem Devi Gurjar, resident of Kharnia village in Rajsamand district, sometime ago. She also started living with her niece.
In the FIR, the woman alleged that when she reached Chauhano Ki Kameri village on November 23, her adopted son, Suresh Gurjar and relatives Gopi Lal, Horam, Shankar Dharmu, Panna, Dayaram barged into her cattle-shed and tied her with a rope. They allegedly beat up her, threatened to throw into a well and rob of her household items. Next day, she alleged, half-a-dozen relatives stripped her off, painted face black and paraded naked on a donkey from the house of Daya Ram Gurjar (Suresh Gurjar’s biological father) to the village chaupal, where a community kangaroo court ordered locals not to talk to her till she transferred her land in the name of village for community use. The kangaroo court allegedly also warned of `1 lakh fine on anyone keeping relations with the victim.
{{/usCountry}}In the FIR, the woman alleged that when she reached Chauhano Ki Kameri village on November 23, her adopted son, Suresh Gurjar and relatives Gopi Lal, Horam, Shankar Dharmu, Panna, Dayaram barged into her cattle-shed and tied her with a rope. They allegedly beat up her, threatened to throw into a well and rob of her household items. Next day, she alleged, half-a-dozen relatives stripped her off, painted face black and paraded naked on a donkey from the house of Daya Ram Gurjar (Suresh Gurjar’s biological father) to the village chaupal, where a community kangaroo court ordered locals not to talk to her till she transferred her land in the name of village for community use. The kangaroo court allegedly also warned of `1 lakh fine on anyone keeping relations with the victim.
{{/usCountry}}District collector Ravi Surpur sent a revenue team to the village on Saturday to enquire into the incident and the report is awaited.
Raipur SHO Bhajju Ram is investigating the matter.
Meanwhile, the police are trying to trace the victim to record her statement.
This is the third incident in November, which came to light on December 5, after Sikar and Rajsamand incidents, where a woman was paraded naked on a donkey on the order of village kangaroo courts.