NEW DELHI : The National Commission for Women on Saturday directed the Punjab’s Director General of Police to take swift action in the matter of a woman who was allegedly paraded naked in a semi-naked condition in the streets of village Voltoha in Tarn Taran district, while the Bharatiya Janata Party demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
In a post on X, the National Commission for Women said, “Deeply disturbed by the horrifying incident in Tarn Taran’s Valtoha village, Punjab. The assault and semi-naked parade of a 55-year-old woman is appalling. Chairperson NCW Rekha Sharma has taken suo motu cognisance in the matter and has directed DGP Punjab to take swift action, to arrest the culprits and remove the circulated video.”
“Nobody came forward to help her—neither the police nor the locals. This is a shocking incident, and NCW has taken suo moto cognizance of the matter. I am sending a member to inquire into the matter. If the police do not take any action against the perpetrators, NCW will write to the ECI, keeping in mind the Model Code of Conduct,” NCW Chief Rekha Sharma told ANI.
Four persons including a woman, have been arrested for allegedly assaulting and parading a woman in a semi-naked condition in the streets of village Voltoha in Punjab’s Tarn Taran, police said on Saturday.
Tarn Taran’s Senior Superintendent of Police, Ashwani Kapur, informed that those arrested have been identified as Kulwinder Kaur, Gurcharan Singh, and Sharanjit Singh alias Sunny, all residents of Jivan Nagar in Valtoha, and Sunny of village Abadi Amarkot Amirke in Tarn Taran.
Speaking on the incident, BJP leader SS Channy demanded the resignation of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
“The current AAP government in Punjab has failed to protect the rights of women. Moreover, ever since the incident occurred, no one has taken any action. The woman has been running from pillar to post, but no one has listened to her. The CM of the state has more time and energy to seek an appointment with his party chief in Delhi’s Tihar Jail but has no time to take care of his state affairs,” Channy told ANI.
“He has shown what the Taliban did to Afghanistan is being done here in Punjab. The Punjab Commission of Women and the Government of Punjab have connived, and the PCW Chairperson as well as the CM of Punjab should resign,” he added.
Condemning the incident, Punjab Commission of Women chief Raj Lali Gill said that this is a very shameful incident for the entire state.
“A woman’s modesty has been compromised on the streets by parading her half naked. She kept begging for help and looking for places to hide herself. This is a family affair. The victim’s son married their neighbour’s daughter in court. The girl’s family was against this marriage and reached the boy’s house, and the two families indulged in a heated argument,” Gill said.
“Things escalated, and the girl’s family attacked the boy’s mother and tore her clothes. One boy out of them started filming a video of the boy’s mother after her clothes were torn. This is a very shameful incident for the entire state. The Women’s Commission stands with the victim,” she added.
Shiromani Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal said that the way the modesty of women is being played with on the streets is shameful.
“Condemnation of this incident in the strongest of words will not suffice. The way the modesty of our women is being played with on the streets is shameful. Our gurus have always honoured our women, but today, under the leadership of this useless government, men have paraded a woman in her village after tearing her clothes,” she said.
“15 days passed, and the police did not catch anyone? Our CM is sitting in Delhi and staging protests in favour of that corrupt Arvind Kejriwal. If you want to protest against anything, it should be against your own police, who did not take action for 15 days in this heinous crime. They should feel ashamed that such incidents are taking place under the leadership of the AAP government, which are shameful for the entire Punjabi community,” the SAD leader added. (ANI)