Minor boy’s face blackened, paraded half-naked at village

A 17-year-old youth who allegedly helped a boy and a girl in solemnising their court marriage faced the wrath of the girl’s family at Seera village. He was paraded half-naked in the village with blackened face. To insult the youth, his head, beard and moustache were also shaved by miscreants. The victim was allowed to go after he apologised to the suspects.

It was learnt that the assailants had been asking the boy to give details about the whereabouts of the couple. The girl and boy belong to the SC community and the victim is from a Dalit family.

The incident occurred on July 1. Since the victim was a minor, he could not dare to lodge a police complaint soon after the incident. On Saturday, he lodged a police complaint, which led to the registration of an FIR. The video of the incident was also circulated on social media on Saturday.

A case was registered against 13 persons, identified as Gurpreet Singh Gopa, Simranjit Singh Sima, Sandeep Singh, alias Sam, Rajvir Singh, Ramandeep Kaka, Harman, Jaggi, Lakhi, Deep, Nanna, Kala, Bhupinder, alias Foji, and Jaggi,

all residents of Seera village. The case was registered under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), SC/ST Act and IT Act.

Bhupinder Singh is the father of the girl who solemnised court marriage with a boy from the village. Simranjit Singh, who is a cousin of the girl, was arrested by the police in the case.

The victim, who also belongs to the same village, told the police that he was getting his beard trimmed at a village salon on July 1 when Gurpreet, Simranjit, Sandeep, Rajveer, Ramandeep and others reached the place and beat him up, blackened his face and cut his hair, beard and moustache. They also used casteist remarks against him and made a video of the entire incident.

According to victim’s relatives, the case is related to a court marriage that took place on June 19. Harjot’s friend Gurpreet had a court marriage with a girl from the village.

The attackers suspected that Harjot had helped Gurpreet and knew his whereabouts.

Station House Officer of the Meharban police station, inspector Paramdeep Singh said the assailants were the family members of the girl, including her father. The other suspects were cousins and other relatives of the girl. One person was arrested in the case so far.

The SHO said raids were on to nab the remaining suspects in the case.

Past incidents

In January this year, a woman, her three daughters, including a minor, and her son were paraded with blackened faces and placards stating: “I am a thief and I accept my crime”, hung around their necks. Following the incident, the police had arrested a factory owner, manager and a worker involved in the incident.

In July 2020, a boy, who eloped with a minor girl of a village near Koom Kalan, was caught by the girl’s family members and was tied to a tree. His face was also blackened and he was made to wear a garland of shoes.

Ludhiana