Kannauj: A woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Kannauj was brutally thrashed and had her head shaved after she complained that her nephew harassed her. The incident took place on September 3, 2024, but the video surfaced recently, leading to the arrest of six people.
The viral video shows the woman with her head shaved and her hands and legs bound, being repeatedly beaten with a wooden stick by her husband in front of a small crowd. The men reportedly took turns assaulting her while she screamed in pain and then eventually collapsed.
The woman claimed that her nephew, Raja Nath, had been harassing her for some time. According to reports, after she went to his house to complain, her husband and his family attacked her.
The village panchayat ordered that the woman and nephew's head be shaved as punishment after hearing the matter, according to report by NDTV. The woman's husband was ordered to beat her publicly. "Jabardasti kata unhone (They cut my hair forcefully)," said the woman, who covered her head with a dupatta.
Kannauj Superintendent of Police Amit Kumar Anand stated, "A video of a woman being beaten is being shared. The man seen beating in the video is the husband of a woman. Six people have been arrested and an inquiry is underway."
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New Delhi (PTI): Broken relationships, while emotionally distressing, do not automatically amount to abetment of suicide in the absence of intention leading to the criminal offence, the Supreme Court on Friday said.
The observations came from a bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and Ujjal Bhuyan in a judgement, which overturned the conviction of one Kamaruddin Dastagir Sanadi by the Karnataka High Court for the offences of cheating and abetment of suicide under the IPC.
"This is a case of a broken relationship, not criminal conduct," the judgment said.
Sanadi was initially charged under Sections 417 (cheating), 306 (abetment of suicide), and 376 (rape) of the IPC.
While the trial court acquitted him of all the charges, the Karnataka High Court, on the state's appeal, convicted him of cheating and abetment of suicide, sentencing him to five years imprisonment and imposing Rs 25,000 in fine.
According to the FIR registered at the mother's instance, her 21-year-old daughter was in love with the accused for the past eight years and died by suicide in August, 2007, after he refused to keep his promise to marry.
Writing a 17-page judgement, Justice Mithal analysed the two dying declarations of the woman and noted that neither was there any allegation of a physical relationship between the couple nor there was any intentional act leading to the suicide.
The judgement therefore underlined broken relationships were emotionally distressing, but did not automatically amount to criminal offences.
"Even in cases where the victim dies by suicide, which may be as a result of cruelty meted out to her, the courts have always held that discord and differences in domestic life are quite common in society and that the commission of such an offence largely depends upon the mental state of the victim," said the apex court.
The court further said, "Surely, until and unless some guilty intention on the part of the accused is established, it is ordinarily not possible to convict him for an offence under Section 306 IPC.”
The judgement said there was no evidence to suggest that the man instigated or provoked the woman to die by suicide and underscored a mere refusal to marry, even after a long relationship, did not constitute abetment.