A day after a horrific incident of a 55-year-old woman being allegedly stripped and assaulted in Valtoha village of Punjab’s Tarn Taran district came to light, the National Commission for Women (NCW) took a suo moto cognizance of the matter, calling it “deeply disturbing” and “appalling”. The woman was allegedly paraded semi-naked after her son married a girl against the wishes of her family.

NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma also directed the Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) to take swift action against the accused.

“Nobody came forward to help the woman, neither the police nor the locals…This is a shocking incident and NCW has taken a suo moto cognizance of the matter. I am sending a member to enquire into the matter. If the police do not take any step against the perpetrators, NCW will write to the ECI keeping in mind the Model Code of Conduct,” she said.

The incident took place on March 31, but it came to light on Friday after videos of it started to make rounds on social media. According to the victim, her 19-year-old son married a girl living around their neighbourhood a month ago, but her family was against it. Following this, the girl’s mother instigated her family members to “teach a lesson”, the 55-year-old victim said.

“…She kept saying that my son had lured her daughter. Soon, one of her sons caught me by the hair while the other tore off my clothes even as other members of the mob started thrashing me. My husband and other neighbours rushed out of the house upon hearing my cries following which the accused fled the spot,” the woman added.

The Tarn Taran police on Saturday evening arrested four people including a woman in the case. The culprits have been identified as – Kulwinder Kaur, Gurcharan Singh, Sharanjit Singh alias Sunny from Jivan Nagar in Valtoha, and Sunny from village Abadi Amarkot Amirke. “Further investigations are underway, and we assure that all remaining accused will be brought to justice soon,” the police said.

BJP slams Punjab government

BJP leader SS Channy on Saturday hit out at the Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab government over the incident, saying that they “failed to protect the rights of women”. He also demanded the resignation of the Punjab chief minister and Punjab Commission of Women chairperson.

“The CM of the state has more time and energy to seek an appointment with his party chief in Delhi’s Tihar Jail but has no time to take care of his state affairs…He has shown what the Taliban did to Afghanistan is being done here in Punjab,” he said.

Meanwhile, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal also slammed the AAP government in the state saying, “Our CM is sitting in Delhi and staging protests in favour of that corrupt Arvind Kejriwal… If you want to protest against anything, it should be against your own police who did not take action for 15 days in this heinous crime.”

She added, “Condemnation of this incident in the strongest of words will not suffice. The way the modesty of our women is being played with on the streets is shameful…They (Punjab government) should feel ashamed that such incidents are taking place under the leadership of the AAP government which are shameful for the entire Punjabi community.”

(With inputs from agencies)