A middle-aged housewife was forcibly married to her alleged paramour at Krishnapur area under Teliamura in Tripura on Saturday. Before the forced marriage, villagers beat the woman and the alleged paramour severely.
The incident reminded the shameful Tata Kalibari incident at Chandrapur in Agartala that occurred during the Left regime.
According to the local sources, a 40-year old woman, wife of Jitendra Biswas – a resident of Madhya Krishnapur Balu Chhara area of Teliamura police station area – reportedly had an illicit relationship with Haradhan Mallik for a long time. The latter also hails from the same area.
On Saturday, the wife of Jitendra Biswas went out of the house under the pretext of visiting her married daughter’s residence. However, Jitendra Biswas came to know that his wife did not go to their daughter’s house. Later, Biswas along with few other villagers went out to find her.
Eventually, they reached the house of Haradhan Mallik and found the wife of Biswas there. Finding the housewife with Haradhan Mallik a section of villagers – both male and female led by Jitendra Biswas dragged the duo out to an open paddy field and started thrashing them.
Being beaten mercilessly, the woman started bleeding and fainted. People also thrashed Haradhan Mallik. After the woman gained consciousness, villagers forced the duo to exchange garlands symbolizing ‘marriage’ between the housewife and Haradhan Mallik.
Later, the villagers informed the Police who rushed to the spot and rescued the injured duo. The housewife and Haradhan were taken to the Teliamura Hospital for treatment. As her condition was serious, the housewife got admitted to the Hospital while Haradhan Mallik was released after treatment.
The barbaric incident caused sensation in the entire area in Teliamura and civil society voiced against the act of villagers and condemned the incident.
Chairperson of the Tripura Commission for Women Barnali Goswami also condemned the incident.