Bhopal:

In an utterly barbaric and horrific incident in Madhya Pradesh’s Guna district, a tribal woman was forced to carry a member of her husband’s family on her shoulders and walk for three kilometres.

A video of the incident, which has been widely shared online, shows the woman labouring on as villagers armed with sticks and cricket bats march alongside – some grinning and enjoying her humiliation. Some even hit her with the sticks and bats when she slows down.

The incident took place between the Sagai and Bans khedi villages of Guna district.

Police have said a case has been registered and four accused have been arrested so far.

A married tribal woman in Guna was beaten up, shamed and forced to carry her relatives on her shoulders as punishment @ndtv@ndtvindia@NCWIndia@sharmarekha@ChouhanShivraj@drnarottammisra@OfficeOfKNath@manishndtv@GargiRawat@vinodkapri@rohini_sghpic.twitter.com/H8ZJL8m86g

— Anurag Dwary (@Anurag_Dwary) February 15, 2021

According to the woman’s complaint she had separated from her husband by mutual consent, and was in a relationship with another man.

However, last week members of her ex-husband’s family and others from that village came to her home and abducted her, and inflicted the humiliating measure on her.

This is not the first time such a horrific incident has been reported from Madhya Pradesh.

In July last year a woman accused of having an affair was similarly humiliated.

In a video that emerged from Jhabua district, she was seen carrying her husband on her shoulders while being jeered and heckled by villagers.

The helpless woman was hit with sticks when she stopped at one point. No one helped her. Instead, people raced to capture her humiliation on mobile phone cameras.

Seven villagers, including the husband, were later charged by police.

Two years ago in April, another woman – also from a tribal-dominated village in Jhabhua district – was beaten and shamed because she ran away from her home to be with a man she loved.

She was brought back forced to carry her husband on shoulders as punishment.

Two people were arrested in that case.

As with the incident from Guna, a video of this incident showed the woman walking as a group of men around her hooted and laughed, and an old man laughed and danced in front of her.