Still from a video of the incident | Photo Credit: Times Now

Key Highlights The incident took place under limits of Nanoor police station on Friday A video of the assault is being widely circulated on social media Police are yet to make arrests in this regard

Kolkata: Yet another example of mob justice prevailing in India has come to light from the state of West Bengal where a woman was manhandled and mercilessly assaulted by locals allegedly over her illicit affair with a villager. A video of the incident shot under the limits of Nanoor police station in Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district on Friday is going viral on social media platforms.

Inputs suggest that the woman was a resident of the village until 2011 when she allegedly eloped with a local. She returned years later with the hope of being forgiven and accepted by her family members. However, it seems that they held her accountable for engaging in an extramarital affair. The matter got out of hand on Friday afternoon when an argument between her and the locals went awry.

In the video, scores of villagers, mostly women, can be seen manhandling the victim and thrashing her black and blue even as a handful of people attempt to rescue her from the wrath of the impatient mob. She was then stripped naked and paraded across the village. Ground reports suggest that the local women attacked her because they thought that she would lure the men in their family in an illicit relationship like she allegedly did in 2011.

Following the incident, the woman was provided medical assistance and her health is now stable. However, local police are yet to register a case or make any arrests in this regard.

This is one of several cases where men and women in rural areas are ostracised by their families for choosing to love the person of their choice. In April of this year, the West Bengal assembly passed a bill to curb incidents of mob lynchings and to deem such actions as criminal in nature. The bill was aimed at protecting the constitutional rights of people and prevent instances of enraged citizens taking law into their own hands.

The incident from Birbhum brings back memories of a similar case reported from Rajasthan in 2016 where a tribal couple was stripped naked and tied to a tree in Kasotia village under the limits of Kanod police station. The couple was then brutally thrashed and held hostage for two days before they were rescued. Police officers familiar with the case had told media outlets that the couple invited the wrath of locals after the woman left her husband and decided to live with her lover without seeking the community's permission.