A Dalit woman was reportedly stripped naked, thrashed and forced to drink urine in a village in Bihar.
The incident happened with a 30-year-old Mahadalit woman late Saturday night for her purported failure to repay additional interest on a loan amounting to Rs 1,500, which she had borrowed from a local strongman in Mosimpur village in Patna district, police said Sunday. The woman has identified her attackers as Pramod Singh, his son Anshu Kumar, and four others.
According to her family, the loan, along with its interest, had already been paid off. However, the accused allegedly coerced her into repaying an additional sum as interest. When she refused to comply, she was subjected to physical assault and humiliation by the father-son duo.
Patna SSP Rajiv Kumar Mishra said an FIR had been registered and the accused and their other family members were on the run. “Their house is locked. Raids are being conducted to nab them.” Ashok Das, elder brother of the woman’s husband Subodh Das, said Pramod and his associates had approached her around four days ago, claiming that the interest amount remained outstanding.
She reported it to police, which appeared to further enrage Pramod. On Saturday night, Pramod, his son, and four others forcibly took the woman with them, according to Das. “We went out in search of her and found her running towards home without a stitch on. We wrapped her in clothes and brought her home. She told us that she was stripped and Pramod’s son urinated in her mouth. She also had a head wound and beating marks on her thighs,” Das said. He said the accused are of a dominant caste, while there are only a few houses of Mahadalits. “We are in fear and are thinking of leaving the place for some days.”
SSP Mishra said the woman had earlier complained of being beaten up during the night. “But, in the morning, she changed her statement and named Pramod, Anshu, and 3-4 unidentified persons in the FIR,” he said.
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