She Was Paraded Naked: Violence Against Indian Women—From Draupadi To Manipur

Women being paraded naked, a horrific yet familiar headline, is an issue that has shaken the nation and the world several times.

On September 5, media reported that a woman was beaten, tortured and paraded half-naked. Simultaneously, the man with whom she was in a relationship was also stripped by a group of people in Bihar's Supaul district.

As she pled for mercy, a group dragged her by her hair, tore away her clothes, and paraded her half-naked in the Karzain police station area. A purported video of the incident also went viral on social media, following which a case was registered and a probe was launched.

A statement from the district police said that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed, and one accused has been arrested.

But did this incident come after a long gap of violence and crime against women? No. From the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor in Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital to another incident of a woman—along with her husband—being paraded semi-naked through a village in Jhajha in Bihar's Jamui district, there have been many such cases in the recent past.

The woman in Jhajha was subjected to such horrifying treatment for eloping with the man she loved and marrying him. Her head was shaved, her husband made to wear a slippers' garland with his face blackened and then paraded semi-naked through the village; this was their alleged way of punishing the two.

These incidents trigger a chill down the spines of the citizens in the nation. People have witnessed and expressed outrage over such crimes against women, be it the Belagavi incident in Karnataka or the case of women being paraded naked in the strife-torn north-eastern state of Manipur.

Looking Back:

February 2024: A 33-year-old woman was thrashed, stripped and paraded naked by her husband, brother-in-law and father-in-law in Uttarakhand's US Nagar. Why? Her complaint to the police at Pilibhit Kotwali revealed that her husband used to "routinely torture" her, which she endured merely for the sake of her children. However, she escaped and filed a complaint against him and her two in-laws.

March 2024: In Madhya Pradesh's Indore, four women were arrested for allegedly beating up, stripping and parading naked another woman over a dispute in their village. The 30-year-old victim was pulled out of her house by the women before being subjected to the humiliation. Despite repeatedly pleading for mercy, the accused did not let her go. They tore her clothes apart openly in the village. 

April 2024: Outrage sparked once again after a 55-year-old woman was assaulted and publicly paraded in a semi-naked condition, allegedly by her son's in-laws in Punjab's Tarn Taran. The incident came shortly after the victim's son eloped with a woman and married her, defying her family's objections. One of the accused also recorded a video of the victim, a police official said, adding that the video was made to go viral on social media right after an FIR was filed in the matter. The National Commission for Women took suo moto cognisance of the matter and expressed concerns over the fact that nobody stepped up to help the 55-year-old woman. 

April 2024: Days after the Tarn Taran incident, a 32-year-old woman was allegedly paraded naked by a group of ten people in a village in the neighbouring Rajasthan's Baltora district. The woman was accused of having an extra-marital affair. Reports said a case was filed after a video of the incident started doing the rounds on social media. Torture was inflicted upon the woman as the accused pulled her hair, hurled verbal abuses at her and dragged her naked on the road. An SIT was formed after the police took suo moto cognisance of the incident. 

But as we look back at the incidents from this very year, we cannot forget the incident in Manipur, the horror in Belagavi.

Two tribal women from Kuki-Zo community in the north-eastern state of Manipur were paraded naked by a mob last year, sparking global outrage. A viral video shared on May 4, 2023, showed the shocking incident at a village in the Senapati district.

Ordeal Of Two Tribal Women In Manipur

The incident came in the backdrop of the tussle between the Kuki-Zo and Meitei communities, who were demanding a Scheduled Tribes (ST) status for themselves. The outrageous violence on the two women was reportedly triggered by fake news. A fake report about a Meitei woman's rape and murder by people from the Kuki tribe began doing the rounds, resulting in clashes in the valley.

However, a fact-checking website busted the report and found that the alleged photo of the raped and murdered Meitei woman was, in fact, an old photo of an honour killing incident from Delhi. But it was too late; the two Kuki women had already undergone a horrifying ordeal.

Recently, a CBI chargesheet in the case revealed that the Manipur Police personnel allegedly drove the two Kuki women, who sought refuge in their official gypsy, to a mob of around 1,000 Meitei rioters in Kangpokpi district. A teenager and a woman -- wife of a Kargil war veteran -- who were eventually subjected to the horror had desperately sought the police's help, asking them to drive them to a safer place. But, the police told them "there was no key" (of the vehicle) and hence, did not provide any help to the women.

The Mother In Belagavi

The never-ending torture of women came to the forefront once again when, in December last year, a 42-year-old woman was stripped naked, paraded and assaulted after she was tied to an electric pole in Karnataka's Belagavi. She bore the weight of her son's act, who eloped with a woman.

Notably, the offences of women being paraded naked and stripped are counted under the category of "assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty" in the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, wherein the 2022 report shows that 83,344 such cases were recorded with the number of affected women standing at 85,300.

During a hearing on the Belagavi incident, the Karnataka High Court Chief Justice had invoked the Mahabharata's mythological character Draupadi, saying that so many bystanders were there at the site of the incident, but nobody did anything.

The Chief Justice referred to the modern day as the "age of Duryodhanas and Dushasanas", the characters from Mahabharata who represent injustice, malice and disrespect.

A powerful poem was recited by the court, urging action against such incidents:

"Listen, Draupadi! Pick up your weapons now; Govind will not come". This poem is often used as a metaphor to encourage the oppressed to fight against injustice and stand up for themselves.