Woman paraded semi-naked in Punjab's Tarn Taran: HC compares incident to 'chirharan of Draupadi'
Chandigarh, Apr 8: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday took suo-motu notice of an incident in which a woman was allegedly assaulted and paraded semi-naked by her son's in-laws in Tarn Taran and said it reminded of the "chirharan of Draupadi' at the behest of the Kauravas in Mahabharat.
The 55-year-old woman was assaulted and paraded semi-naked in Punjab's Tarn Taran district allegedly by her son's in-laws, after he eloped with a woman and married her against the wishes of her family.
The incident occurred in a village on March 31, a few days after the victim's son eloped with the woman and married her, police had said.
Justice Sanjay Vashisth took suo-motu (on its own) cognisance of the "barbaric and shameful incident" through media reports and decided to treat the matter as public interest litigation.
Justice Vashisth is also the administrative judge of the Tarn Taran sessions division.
The matter was subsequently placed before a division bench of Acting Chief Justice G S Sandhawalia and Justice Lapita Banerji, which issued a notice of motion to the Punjab government.
"I am reminded of the historical event that had taken place during the Mahabharat era, that is, the chirharan of Draupdi at the behest of the Kauravas and the silence of the Pandavas, including Bhishma Pitamah, which ultimately resulted in bloodshed of thousands of people in the Mahabharat war.
"After centuries thereafter, an ordinary common man does not expect even today that the 'nyay pranali' (judicial system) would be a mute spectator to such incidents, happening sinfully and openly under the nose of the administration," Justice Vashisth observed.
"Being the administrative judge of the Tarn Taran sessions division, I am of the considered opinion that cognisance of this incident is required to be taken suo-motu on the judicial side, because the high court cannot be a mute spectator to such incidents, where the respect and modesty of a lady is outraged openly, and despite taking required steps, police and the other authorities concerned show or adopt a lackluster attitude and do not initiate prompt action," the judge said.
Police had said four people were arrested in connection with the incident.
According to the complaint filed by the victim, she was alone at home when her son's in-laws allegedly assaulted her and tore her clothes off.
They paraded her in the village in a semi-naked condition, the victim alleged.
A video purported showing the victim being paraded in the village surfaced on social media on Friday.
Kulwinder Kaur Mani, the mother of the victim's daughter-in-law, her brothers Sharanjit Singh Shanni and Gurcharan Singh, and family friend Sunny Singh have been arrested in connection with the incident.
Based on the complaint, an FIR was registered on April 3 under Indian Penal Code sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354B (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe), 354D (stalking), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 149 (unlawful assembly).
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
