Shillong, May 16 (PTI): Meghalaya police on Monday said it has identified at least 10 people, including women members of a local market committee, for being allegedly involvement in parading, heckling and tying a woman to a post at a market place in Jowai.
The police also registered a suo moto case in the incident in which a woman in her 20s was seen being taken to a shed and later being tied to a pole in full public view at a local market in Jowai last week.
“Summons have been issued to prominent members of a local market committee based on a video evidence of the incident which was shared by a concerned person,” a senior police officer told PTI.
He said a case has also been registered against those involved in the crime following the direction by Meghalaya State Women Commission chairperson, Phidalia Toi.
Toi had directed the police to register a suo moto case after the woman who was heckled refused to file an FIR against those who had allegedly tortured here.
In the video which went viral on the social media on May 13, the woman was seen being taken to a shed and then tied to a pole for alleged pickpocketing. Her scarf and bag which were seen on her was not seen when she was tied to the pole.
Eyewitnesses said she was paraded to a market place where some of her belongings were taken and tied to a pole in full public view.
Preliminary investigation said the perpetrators committed the act to punish her for being a “habitual offender”.
Nearly 500 cases were reported committed against women last year across Meghalaya, while there were over 600 cases in 2020, according to the police.
Only 334 such cases were reported in 2015, the police added.
