Police arrested 24 people, including 7 women
Mandi: In the land of goddess and deity, a shameful act of torturing an elderly woman, who was taken as a sorceress, has come to the light. A video of an elderly woman who was being seen beaten up by religious fanatics at Samahal village of Sarkaghat in Mandi district went viral few days back.
In the video, the woman was seen garlanded with shoes, her face blackened with ink before being paraded in the area.
The Police have registered a case under sections 147, 149, 452, 355, 435 and 427 of the IPC. The Mandi Police have arrested 21 accused including seven women and produced them before the court. The Court has awarded three-day police remand to 17 accused and one-day remand to four accused. The Police has also arrested three more accused.
Police confirmed that the incident took place on November 6 but no one reported it to the police and after the video went viral on the social media, the Police initiated the action.
It’s learned that the villagers were pressuring the Police and claiming that the local deity has justified their illegal and cruel act. And even villagers were planning to gherao the police station, which police averted with timely action.
High Court directs the state to file a status report in a week
The state High Court has expressed serious concern over torturing an old woman and directed the state government to file a status report within a week. A Division Bench of Chief Justice L Narayana Swamy and Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua passed this order on a petition taken up suo motu by the court as a PIL petition on the basis of news items published in various newspapers highlighting this issue.
