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Patan: A 14-year-old girl was allegedly shaved off her head by some villagers after she eloped with a man in a village in Gujarat’s Patan district, smeared her face and turned her around. The police gave this information on Saturday. At least 22 people have been arrested so far in connection with the incident that allegedly took place on November 10 in Harji village, an official said.
The officer said that the people of the Wadi tribe shaved the girl’s head and blackened her face as a punishment for eloping with her lover. These people claim that the girl has defamed their tribe by her actions.
A video is going viral on social media, in which people are seen shaving her head and sooting her face as a ritual of ‘purifying’ her and the girl is seen crying and crying. The villagers also took the girl and her lover around the village as a punishment.
According to the police, soon after that the girl’s family forced her to marry another man from the same tribe. Superintendent of Police (Patan) Akshayraj Makwana said, “We have registered an FIR against 35 villagers and arrested 22 people in this connection.”
He said that a case has been registered against the person with whom the girl had eloped, rape under the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Child Sexual Offenses Act. In it, this person is accused of kidnapping the girl and took her to Dakor in Kheda district and raped her. According to the police, another FIR was registered on Friday and relevant sections of IPC, Juvenile Justice Act and Prohibition of Child Marriage Act have been imposed on the accused.
