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Man assaulted after nephew eloped in Karnataka
According to the police, the incident took place on Monday night in Mudenur village of Haveri distric
A 34-year-old man was brutally assaulted and left half-clothed in front of the local police station allegedly by the family of a woman his nephew eloped with, in Haveri district of Karnataka, police said.
According to the police, the incident took place on Monday night in Mudenur village of Haveri district.
“Prashanth Kabbara’s nephew Prakash (28) has been in a relationship with Sangeetha (22) for the past four years. The two belong to the same caste but Sangeetha’s family opposed their marriage due to Prakash’s weak financial condition. The couple eloped on December 15. Infuriated, the woman’s relatives abducted Kabbara and abducted him in a vehicle, where they brutally assaulted him and left him near the Ranebennur Rural police station in a semi-clothed condition,” sub-inspector Basavaraja Biradar said.
Based on the complaint lodged by Kabbara’s family, the police have booked 15 people — all relatives of Sangeetha — under several charges, including attempted murder and kidnapping. While four of the accused — Shivappa, Basavaraju, Harisha, and Sunil (the complaint only mentions first name) — have been arrested, 11 are still absconding and a search operation has been launched to nab them.
“We have registered a case against four persons under IPC sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 149 (offence committed in furtherance of a common object), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 307 (attempt to murder), 354 (outraging modesty of a woman), 365 (kidnapping), 395 (dacoity), 504 (intentional insult), and the investigation is ongoing,” he added.
The officer clarified that section 354 has been added to the FIR as the accused also assaulted Kabbara’s wife.
Meanwhile, a police officer familiar with the case said Prakash and Sangeetha got married at a temple in Haveri and have sought police protection.
Prashanth Kabbara, who is also a gram panchayat member, said he was unaware of the elopement. “I was unaware of the eloping incident; however, around 25 persons kidnapped me from my house, assaulted me, stripped me, and threatened my life,” he said.
“When women in my home intervened, the assailants threatened them and robbed a gold chain,” he added.
The incident comes over a week after a 42-year-old woman was dragged out of her house, paraded naked, tied to an electric pole and thrashed allegedly after her son eloped with a woman, in Belagavi district of Karnataka. The incident triggered sharp criticism from several quarters.
Hearing a suo motu petition of the Belagavi case on Monday, the Karnataka high court had called for changes in the society’s mindsets. “It is not ‘beti bachao, beti padhao’. It is ‘beta padhao’, to save the girl child. Unless you tell the boy child, you will not be achieving it. The girl will naturally be respectful to the other lady. It is for the boy to be told to respect and protect the lady,” the HC division bench headed by Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale said.
“Some collective responsibility measures have to be taken, which Lord William Bentinck took in history. It is not the action of offenders, but the inaction of those standing at the spot that is more dangerous. These people standing mute spectators will make the assailant a hero,” the HC added.
