Seven arrested after woman stripped naked, paraded and assaulted in Belagavi village

BENGALURU: Home Minister G Parameshwara on Tuesday said that action has been taken and seven people have been arrested so far in connection with the incident in Belagavi district where a woman was stripped naked, paraded and assaulted after her son eloped with a girl of the same village.

Speaking about the incident, Parameshwara said, “It is unfortunate that it happened. One boy, about 24 years old, fell in love with another girl from the same village and same community. They eloped and, in retaliation, the girl’s parents destroyed the boy’s house and forcefully took away the mother, removed her clothes and tied her up to an electric pole”.

“Immediately, our police went and rescued (the woman). She was brought to the hospital. We have registered a case and we have already arrested about seven people. Further investigation is going on. We are also trying to find where this boy and the girl have run away”, said Parameshwara.

Dundappa Nayika (Gadkari) and Priyanka Nayika of Vanamuri village fell in love a few months ago. When the girl’s parents came to know about this, they planned to get her married. On coming to know about this. Dundappa and Priyanka eloped.

Dundappa eloped with Priyanka after coming to know that her parents were arranging her wedding elsewhere.

Angered by this, the girl’s family went to Dundappa’s house on Monday, stripped his mother Kamalavva and tied her to an electricity pole and tortured her for about three hours. They also ransacked the house, throwing everything inside, and threw stones at the door windows. She was later rescued by the police and admitted to the district hospital.

The Kakati police have arrested seven people including the girl’s father Basappa, uncle Raju Nayak, her mother, relatives Parvathi, Gangavva, Sangeetha, Yellavva and brother Kempanna. The police are on the lookout for the others who were involved in the incident and also for the eloped couple.

BJP MLA Bharath Shetty, speaking about the incident, said the party is planning to hold a big protest in Belagavi tomorrow against the state government’s policies and the law and order situation.

“Yes, we have planned to call a larger protest in Belagavi. Protest is required, people need to know what’s happening, and people need to know the attitude of this government and what is their attitude towards the people. This incident shows the failure of law and order in the state”, said Bharath Shetty.

He further lashed out at the Congress government in the state and said that there are a lot of problems in the state, whether it be with power ministry, distribution of scholarships to the students or social justice, everything is in a bad state.

On Monday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, in a social media post, expressed his disappointment in the incident. “Extremely inhumane. This has made the whole society dizzy. Our government will not tolerate such heinous acts for any reason. Many people have already been arrested in connection with the case. It is our full responsibility to provide justice to the aggrieved family by taking action to ensure that the culprits are punished severely”, Siddaramaiah posted on X. (ANI)