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Army jawan’s wife claims she was molested by 40 people, 2 arrested

The police, on Sunday, said that the case is of a dispute over a land lease between the soldier’s wife, Keerthy, and some men.

Updated on: Jun 12, 2023, 04:43:41 IST
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The Tamil Nadu police have refuted the claims by an Army personnel, posted in Kashmir, that his wife was stripped half naked and beaten continuously by men in the state, officials familiar with the matter said. The police, on Sunday, said that the case is of a dispute over a land lease between the soldier’s wife, Keerthy, and some men. The police also said that the department has given protection to Keerthy. “Initial investigations show no one attacked Keerthy or insulted her or her mother,” said a statement from the police, adding that the video posted by the soldier appears to be “exaggerated”.

Tamil Nadu police have refuted the claims by an Army personnel, posted in Kashmir, that his wife was stripped half naked and beaten continuously by men in the state. (HT Archives)
Tamil Nadu police have refuted the claims by an Army personnel, posted in Kashmir, that his wife was stripped half naked and beaten continuously by men in the state. (HT Archives)

Also read: On Army jawan's video claiming wife stripped half-naked, cops say 'exaggerated'

Identifying himself as Prabhakaran, a havildar from Thiruvannamalai district, the soldier had recorded a video on June 10, speaking in Tamil, which went viral on social media after a retired army officer Colonel N Thiagarajan shared it on Twitter.

Police from the Kandavasal village of Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu, in a two-page statement, said that some people had thrown away things from his wife’s shop, which is that disputed land, on June 10. The soldier’s wife and her mother had signed an agreement in February to return the land for money, but they refused to vacate after which the men took goods from their shop and threw it away, the police added.

“My wife has a shop. More than 120 people have beat her up. She is bleeding from her ears and nose,” Prabhakaran said, showing a petition submitted to superintendent of police (SP), Thiruvannamalai district, K Karthikeyan. The Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president K Annamalai spoke to the havildar over phone to express his party’s support. “Truly gutted to hear her story and I felt ashamed that this had happened to her on our Tamil soil,” Annamalai tweeted.

The investigation is underway, the police said, assuring that the culprits will be arrested and action will be taken soon.

Also read: Manipur violence: Almost all arms of Kuki militants still intact in camps, says army

“With regards to the video made by Indian army soldier Mr. Prabakar on social media, preliminary investigation reveals that his family has a civil dispute with one Ramu’s family over a leased shop,” said the SP Karthikeyan. ”There was a scuffle between both sides yesterday (on Saturday). FIR has been registered based on the complaint and the case is under investigation. Appropriate legal action will be taken. The soldier’s family has been given police protection.”

  • Divya Chandrababu
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Divya Chandrababu

    Divya Chandrababu is an award-winning political and human rights journalist based in Chennai, India. Divya is presently Assistant Editor of the Hindustan Times where she covers Tamil Nadu & Puducherry. She started her career as a broadcast journalist at NDTV-Hindu where she anchored and wrote prime time news bulletins. Later, she covered politics, development, mental health, child and disability rights for The Times of India. Divya has been a journalism fellow for several programs including the Asia Journalism Fellowship at Singapore and the KAS Media Asia- The Caravan for narrative journalism. Divya has a master's in politics and international studies from the University of Warwick, UK. As an independent journalist Divya has written for Indian and foreign publications on domestic and international affairs.Read More