Man forced to perform sexual act on woman for ‘purification’ in Gujarat, 9 held; clip uploaded on Instagram

Police said the woman was allegedly stripped, tied up and assaulted during the ritual, while the incident was recorded and later uploaded on Instagram.

A man was forced to engage in sexual acts with a married woman on the pretext of a purification ritual after they were caught together in Gujarat’s Surendranagar district, police said on Tuesday.

Police said the woman had left her husband and gone with another man. Her family and community members later caught them and took them for the purported ritual (Representative/X/ Vadodara City Police)

The incident was recorded, and a video was later uploaded on Instagram, the police said, adding that nine people were arrested.

According to Surendranagar superintendent of police (SP) Premsukh Delu, the woman from Vapi had earlier run away with the man to Chotila.

An agreement was later reached between the family and community members and she returned to her husband. Her husband would reportedly keep her tied up, following which she made another bid and ran away with the man, the police said.

Family and community members later caught the couple and took them to a place in Surendranagar for a purported “shuddhikaran” ritual, Delu told HT.

Forced sexual assault against woman, tied her up

Delu said he received a call on Monday from a community member who saw the video. Police did not initially know the woman’s identity. Assistant superintendent of police Vedika Dihani and her team launched a search and made inquiries in the area, and eventually reached her house.

“She broke down and narrated the entire incident,” he said.

All nine accused are residents of Dudhrej village in Surendranagar, police said.

Police said a case has been registered at Surendranagar City A Division police station under section 70(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (gang rape), 115(2) (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) and section 67(A) of the Information Technology Act (publishing or transmitting sexually explicit material in electronic form). A detailed probe is underway, they added.

To be sure, the accused did not rape the woman but the gang rape charge was added since they forced the man to engage in the act and were witness to it.