Woman Stripped, Hair Chopped Off On Suspicion Of Illicit Affair In Koderma

In a bizarre incident, a woman was allegedly stripped and her hair was chopped off on suspicion of her having an illicit relationship with her nephew, in Koderma district of Jharkhand, police said on Sunday.

The woman alleged that she had revealed her nephew's advances to some women of Dengodih village but instead of helping her, a women panchayat was called on August 21, where she was beaten and her hair was chopped off. A case was registered on the woman's complaint. In her complaint, the victim alleged that she was dragged out of her house and brought before the panchayat comprising mostly women, to punish her.

The victim alleged that her 22-year-old nephew had been taking advantage of her for the last three months in her husband's absence. Her husband said that he had returned house a day before the incident and was not aware of the harassment the woman had been facing. She said that he tried to stop the group of women to take her wife out of his home but they forcibly took the woman to the panchayat.

"I tried to stop the women who were dragging her out of the house but to no avail," he said. Expressing shock over the incident, village head Rajiv Pandey condemned the draconian order of the women panchayat. "There are courts in the country to deliver verdicts and punish people. Such panchayats have no right to issue any order," he said. 11 people have been identified for their involvement in the case, KodermaSP M Tamil Vanan said. However, no arrest has been made so far and the police are investigating the matter.