Woman tied to electric pole & thrashed after son elopes with girl in K’taka, 6 arrested

Haveri (Karnataka), May 4 (PTI) A 50-year-old woman was allegedly tied to an electric pole and thrashed by a group of women in Aremallapur village in this district after her son eloped with a girl, police said on Saturday.

Following the incident which happened on April 30 in Ranebennur Rural Police station limits — six people, including three women have been arrested, they said.

A video of the alleged incident also went viral on social media platforms.

Police said Hanumavva Medleri’s son Manjunath, who belongs to the Kuruba community was in love with a girl from Maratha community of the same village since the last two years. But after the girl’s family found out about their relationship, it led to a quarrel between the families following which the victim’s son left the village. For about over a year, Manjunath was staying with his sister at her place.

According to police, the girl’s family was planning to get her married and amid this, Manjunath returned to his village last week and eloped with the girl.

Subsequently, the girl’s family members dragged the woman onto the streets and tied her to an electric pole with rope. She was assaulted by a group of women and three other men also encouraged them in the act.

Later, a few villagers gathered there and objected to it. They advised the accused women and men to leave Manjunath’s mother.

“As soon as we received information about the incident, our police team rushed to the spot and took the woman to hospital for treatment. She sustained only minor injuries on her hands and was discharged later,” a senior police officer said.

Based on the victim’s complaint, a case was registered against the accused under sections — 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 354b (Assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe), 504 (Insult intended to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (Common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and arrested three men and three women in connection with the incident, he said.