Gujarat: Three booked for flogging 17-year-old girl who allegedly eloped

The police in Chhota Udepur said that the girl’s relatives thrashed her with a stick in public view on May 21.

The Gujarat Police have booked three people for flogging a 17-year-old girl in a village in Chhota Udepur district, allegedly because she had eloped, The Indian Express reported on Wednesday.

The police told the newspaper that the girl’s relatives thrashed her with a stick in public view on May 21. A video of the incident went viral on social media on Wednesday morning, after which three people were booked. However, no arrests have been made so far.

“The video is of an incident that occurred a few days ago where a 17-year-old girl was publicly flogged by her relatives for eloping with a man of the same village,” Chota Udepur Superintendent of Police MS Bhabhor said. “The older man seen in the video has been identified as the girl’s uncle.”

Bhabhor said the police are in the process of filing a first information report against the three accused and that sections of the Indian Penal Code related to rioting will be used against them. “After the video came up, we identified the victim and asked her to file a complaint, which she did,” an unidentified police officer said.