Panchayat asks sexual assault victim to beat accused with shoes; video goes viral

MEERUT: A day after a panchayat in Hapur's Alipur village announced that a sexual assault victim should beat the accused with shoes five times, the video of the act has gone viral on social media. The matter came to light on Tuesday when the video of the girl beating the accused started getting circulated on WhatsApp and other social media platforms. Incidentally, the victim has not approached the police and no complaint has been filed in the matter so far.

Ravindra Kumar, 46, had allegedly attempted to rape the 19-year-old girl on Saturday night but she managed to flee and told her parents about it a day later. Though the family did not go to the police, a local panchayat was called to sort out the matter, wherein the victim was told to beat the accused with shoes five times.

Satish Pandey, circle officer, Garh Mukteshwar, said, "We got the information about the panchayat late on Monday night. I personally went to investigate the matter in the village which is in Bahadurgarh area of Hapur. Nobody is ready to talk about the panchayat openly but they have admitted quietly to the fact that it happened. We also met the victim who said that no sexual assault took place. She told us Kumar had passed lewd comments to her after which she had complained to her family. Despite asking repeatedly, they refused to file any complaint or FIR in the matter."

Pandey further said that Kumar has been left with a warning and because the family is not ready to file a complaint they cannot do much.

Asked if any action will be taken against the members of the panchayat, Pandey said, "Nobody is ready to accept it in their statement that a panchayat took place. In such a scenario, we need to have evidence at hand. It is a matter of investigation and action will be taken once we have some strong evidence against them."

Meanwhile, the video of the girl beating Kumar with shoes continues to be circulated widely on social media.