DHARMAPURI: A day after six members of a family were allegedly tied to a tree and publicly flogged, the victims released a video purportedly showing the injuries sustained. The video purportedly showed one of the men with a broken arm and the others with bruised bodies. Meanwhile, the women claimed that some of their bruises were on parts of their bodies that could not be shown on camera.
The alleged incident that took place in a village under Pennagaram Taluk on Friday night was reportedly a fallout of an elopement involving a MBC girl and a BC boy. According to some reports, the three women victims were sexually abused. While the victims refused to return to their village, fearing fresh violence, officials expressed inability to pursue the incident as the victims had not lodged any complaint. According to a close relative of the family, “They are terrified and the attack has taken a psychological toll. They are talking about abandoning their home and businesses and stay in Bengaluru indefinitely.”
The relative said that the girl’s family and members of the MBC community used ropes and coconut tree branches to assault them. As one of the family members is still awaiting discharge from a hospital, the family is in hiding. The relative claimed that he too had received death threats and he had closed his business, fearing attack.
When TNIE furnished information on the video to Sub-Collector Sivan Arul, he said that despite their best efforts, every phone they tried was switched off. The report was forwarded to SP P Rajan, who had begun investigations. “Nine BC families have fled the village. The remaining belong to the majority MBC. Nobody is willing to testify,” he said Sivan Arul maintained that it was impossible to investigate without testimony or a complaint.