Tripura Woman Dies By Suicide After Being Paraded Naked Over Extramarital Affair

Tripura woman commits suicide: A 23-year-old woman from Tripura committed suicide on Wednesday, May 5 after being tortured and paraded naked over an alleged extramarital affair.

A day after Tripura High Court took suo moto of the media reports, seven people were arrested on Friday in which four were arrested on the charges of abetting the suicide.

The incident took place at Betaga village of Sabroom in South Tripura on Tuesday, May 4.

According to the SP of South Tripura Dr Kulwant Singh, the police has already collected evidence and has recorded the statement of some witnesses. The arrests were made on the basis of these pieces of evidence and the witnesses. A case has been registered under sections 323, 354, 306 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Sabroom Police Station.

According to the reports, an obscene video of the woman's alleged extra-marital affair was displayed on a big screen at the local market during an arbitration meeting on Sunday.

After watching the video, people of the area assembled in front of her house and allegedly trimmed her hair, garlanded her with shoes, and paraded her naked across the village after tying her rope. This incident is reported to have taken place on Tuesday.

After returning home, the woman reportedly consumed poison and died on the spot. Her family lodged a complaint against the neighbours accusing them of compelling her to commit suicide.

According to the media reports, suo moto proceedings were instituted by a division bench of chief justice S Talapatra and justice AA Kureshi, and a notice was issued to the chief secretary, DGP, SDPO (Sabroom), and SP (South Tripura) seeking a complete report of the incident.

The court directed the respondents to file their replies in a day, calling the incident as "grossest possible violation of human rights." The court said that they did not, and would not accept any news story without full verification. It further stated that however if even a fraction of the reported news is true, then it would shock the conscience of any citizen.

The Tripura High Court has instructed the authorities that they submit the video footage mentioned in the news reports along with the statements of the woman's family members.

The court said, "If any photographs or video footage are available of the alleged incident, the same shall be produced before the court."