18-year-old paraded semi-naked

Suri, January 24: An 18-year-old girl was allegedly torturedand paraded in a semi-naked condition by family members of her second husband in a Birbhum village on Sunday night.

The administration admitted the girl to Rampurhat subdivisional hospital on Monday. Her sister-in-law was detained for interrogation though the rest of the accused and the woman's husband went into hiding.

The teen got married to a youth of Mallarpur, Prasanta Let, a few months ago. But the marriage did not last and she returned to her father's house in Kusumba, under Rampurhat subdivision. Sometime later, she got into a relationship with a neighbour Tamal Let, who is also her distant relative. They reportedly tied the knot last week. This, however, did not go down very well with Tamal's family who did not like the idea of their son marrying a woman who had been married before.

On Saturday, the couple returned to Kusumba, but the girl did not go to Tamal's house. On Sunday night, however, she was allegedly summoned by Tamal's father. When she went there, her in-laws allegedly started torturing her physically and allegedly paraded her semi-nude through the village. In the face of a strong mob sentiment, Tamal could do little to protest. Neither could her own family members.

"We came to know about the incident on Monday morning and immediately sent a police force to Kusumba," said Rampurhat SDO Baivab Sribastav. "Our officers spoke to the girl. She told them she was tortured, her hair was snipped and she was forced to walk in a semi-naked condition across the village. We have sent her to Rampurhat subdivisional hospital. One person has been detained for interrogation. But what exactly happened is yet to be investigated. We will provide security for her family members if they seek it," he added.

The girl's father alleged that he had been threatened against lodging a police complaint. "We are very poor. We could not even protest when they tortured my daughter. They warned me against lodging a complaint with police. I did not even dare to take my daughter to hospital till police came," he said. Tamal and his family members have fled the village. Police have detained Tamal's sister Saraswati Let for questioning.