JAMSHEDPUR: A woman was beaten up and stripped off her clothes by a group of 10 locals in Gherabera village under Chowka police station area in Seraikela-Kharsawan district on Monday night. The woman, a 34-year-old widow anganwadi worker, filed a police complaint on Tuesday evening after she got assurance of support from her family members.
Chowka OC Vijay Yadav said one person has been arrested and raids are on to nab the remaining named accused. He added that eight are named accused in the case while an equal number are unnamed accused.
In her complaint, the woman said three local women — Oliba Kusum Topno, Sisila Purty and Angela Topno – reached her house, dragged her for about 50 meters and handed her over to the group of people who accused her of being a woman of loose character. She alleged that they stripped her, beat her up and asked to leave the village immediately. The woman said Oliba, Sisila and Angela wanted her to leave her job as ab anganwadi worker so that they could put their ‘favoured person’ in her place.
The woman said she stays in the village with her 14-year-old son, but had left for her mother’s house in Khunti district early hours on Tuesday and only lodged the complaint after her family convinced her. Police shifted the woman to MGM hospital for initial treatment of her injuries and her family took her to Santevita hospital in Ranchi.
A police source said the woman was in a relationship with a married man in his mid-twenties. “Villagers wanted her to leave the village after the wife of her lover attempted suicide twice in the past few months,” said a policeman.