In a shocking incident, a middle-aged man and his 13-year-old daughter were brutally whipped with a cane in full public view on the orders of a Jat Panchayat (caste panchayat) at Paachwad village in Wai taluka of Satara district in western Maharashtra, after it came to light that the father concerned had allegedly perpetrated repeated sexual assaults on his daughter for a period of four months.
Apart from taking into custody the father of the victim girl for alleged perpetrating sexual assault on his daughter and impregnated her, the Wai police on Friday arrested five members of the Jat Panchayat that ordered that the father and his daughter be whipped 10 times each with a wooden cane, after tying them with a rope. The “jat panchayat” also imposed a fine of `5,000 on the father and `3,000 on the daughter.
The incident took place around noon on Thursday, after the jat panchayat of Gopal community summoned the accused father and the victim to a public place at Paachvad village in Wai taluka of Ahmednagar district in Satara district. After holding both the father and daughter guilty, the jat panchayat ordered that they be thrashed ten times each and imposed fine.
The father and daughter, as the video footage of the incident showed, were tied with a rope and beaten individually. A local RTI activist Sachin Bishe, who video-graphed the incident through his mobile, handed over the video-footage of the incident to a nearby police station on Thursday night, following which the police traced the five absconding the members of “jat panchayat”.
Confirming the arrest of five members of the “jat panchayat”, Satara District Superintendent of Police Dr Abhinav Deshmukh told The Pioneer on Friday night: “We have taken into custody five members of the panchayat in connection with yesterday’s incident. We will be producing them before a local court tomorrow. We have taken into custody the father for allegedly perpetrating sexual assaults on his daughter”.
According to Dr Deshmukh, the police have booked five members of the “jat panchayat” under section 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt) of IPC read with sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 324 (punishment for causing hurt with dangerous weapons or means).
The investigations have revealed that while one of the five arrested whipped the father and victim girl, the others were part of the caste kangaroo court that ordered their whipping.
RTI activist Sachin Bishe, who brought the incident to light, said: “The “jat panchayat” conducted itself in a most uncivil manner by taking the law onto itself and punishing the victim girl for no rhyme or reason. Instead of taking to task the father who allegedly raped his daughter for nearly four months rendering her pregnant, the members of panchayat whipped her brutally with cane, after they thrashed the father involved in the incident. I reported the incident to the police and handed them over the video-footage that I had with me”.
The five members of Gopal “Jat Panchayat” , whom the police arrested for allegedly thrashing in a Taliban style, were Shivaji Pawar, Dattu Chavan, Rajaram Pawar, Jeeva Dinkar Pawar and Sarjerao Chavan.