BHOPAL: Tribal justice raised its ugly head yet again in Madhya Pradesh, as a young couple was tied to wooden poles and thrashed and flogged in full public glare for falling in love.
The incident happened on June 16 in Kund village under Ambua police station area of Alirajpur district, about 400 km from Bhopal. The matter came to light on Wednesday, after a video of the savagery went viral over social media.
Irked over the woman’s affair with the man (both aged between 20 and 22 years) from an adjoining village, the girl’s cousin and nephew along with villagers tied the couple to separate stakes. The lovers were slapped, thrashed and flogged with wooden sticks for about two hours. Worse, at least four men beat the couple and even pulled the woman’s hair while villagers filmed the act, instead of alerting the police.
Later, the woman’s family and locals summoned the man’s family from Indersing ki Chowki village. Tribal elders brokered a compromise, after the man’s family agreed to shell out `90,000 and provide two goats as ‘tor’ (love penalty) for the wedlock of the love-birds.
“We’ve booked four men identified to be involved in the incident under Sections 341, 342, 323 and 34 of IPC and one of the accused have been arrested,” Alirajpur district superintendent of police Vipul Srivastava said.
