16-year-old tribal girl brutally flogged for eloping with youth

VADODARA: A 16-year-old tribal girl was subjected to draconian punishment for allegedly eloping with a youth from the same village in Chhota Udepur district.
The girl was mercilessly flogged by some of her family members and other men in Bilvant village on May 21, but police swung into action on Wednesday after the video of the brutality was widely shared on social media.
The teenager was found from the youth’s house and brought to the local primary school where one person held her hand and four others began thrashing her with wooden sticks.The two-minute-long video showed one man constantly beating her until the stick broke.
Even as she wailed in agony, he slapped her repeatedly on her neck while grabbing her hair with one hand. Later, one of the man removed her dupatta and pushed her down to the ground. The four men then kicked her mercilessly even as the girl kept writhing in pain crying for help.
According to police, there were more than a dozen people present at the spot, but none of them came forward to rescue the girl. “Nobody had come forward with the complaint of the girl eloping with the boy. We would have found an amicable solution and not allowed such brutality,” claimed Dhundiben Rathwa, sarpanch of Bhordali group gram panchayat. Bilvant falls under this group gram panchayat.
“Based on the video, we have identified and booked others who were present there and shot the video. Those who have resorted to violence include her uncles and other men from village,” said sub-inspector D M Vasava of Rangpur police station. None of the accused have been arrested yet.
On Wednesday, police registered an offence against 15 persons for rioting, assault, criminal intimidation, sexual harassment, violation of Information Technology Act and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Sources said that the video had been doing rounds for the past few days, but cops got into action only on Tuesday when senior police officials of neighbouring Alirajpur district in Madhya Pradesh confirmed that the incident did not take place in their region.
“A separate offence of abduction has also been registered against the youth as the girl is a minor, but he has not been found yet,” said Vasava.
Locals said that such brutality is quite common in the region as elders of the village decide and punish girls or couples who flee from the village.