Three members of a teenage girl’s family have been arrested after an 18-year-old boy, his father and a friend were allegedly assaulted, threatened at gunpoint and forced to walk naked for about 50 metres through a lane in Sarsuna, in Kolkata’s Behala area, police said.
The incident took place on Sunday afternoon after the boy was allegedly seen with the 13-year-old girl near Khalpar Math in Khudiram Pally. According to police, an associate of the girl’s maternal uncle informed her family, following which the boy and his 19-year-old friend were taken to the family’s home, confined and assaulted.
Police said the boy was asked to call his father to the house. When he arrived, he was also allegedly assaulted. The three victims were then threatened with firearms and forced to undress and walk outside the residence, according to the account provided by the police.
Additional commissioner of police (crime) Kunal Aggarwal said the girl’s parents and maternal uncle were arrested on Monday. Raids were under way to locate the other accused. Medical examinations of the three victims had been completed, he said.
“ The 18-year-old victim had gone to meet the 13-year-old girl along with his 19-year-old friend near Khalpar Math in Sarsuna. While talking, the boy allegedly kissed her, which was witnessed by an associate of the girl’s maternal uncle,” Aggarwal said, according to the police account. He said the two boys were taken to the house, where the uncle called several associates before the boy’s father arrived.
The case was registered at Sarsuna police station on the complaint of the teenager’s father. The charges cited by police include attempted murder, gang assault, severe bodily harm, illegal confinement, extortion, criminal intimidation, abduction and organised crime, along with provisions of the Arms Act.
The father alleged that he was asked to kill his son or make him walk naked. A local resident, Arnab Saha, also claimed that members of the girl’s family were carrying guns and threatened people who tried to intervene. Police said the victims had alleged that firearms were used to threaten them, but no weapons had been recovered so far.
Residents later vandalised the girl’s house and accused police of delaying the arrests. Police denied the allegation. Some local residents also alleged that the accused had political connections, while a local Trinamool Congress functionary, speaking anonymously, denied that any party worker or supporter was involved.
The incident has drawn condemnation from civil society voices, who described it as an extreme form of mob vigilantism in an urban neighbourhood. Police said the investigation was continuing and that efforts were under way to arrest the remaining accused.
