'Draupadi! pick weapons!' court urges woman who was beaten naked

Bengaluru: In a case of a woman being beaten, paraded naked and tied to an electric pole in Karnataka's Belagavi, the Karnataka High Court asked the victim to rise and fight, invoking a poem related to Mahabharata. The woman was assaulted because her son eloped with a girl who was promised for someone else, NDTV reports.

The Chief Justice's court said, "Listen Draupadi! Pick up your weapons; now, Govind will not come."

In the grave incident of torture, the high court expressed disappointment, saying that the current era is an age of Duryodhanas and Dushasanas, two characters from Mahabharata representing injustice and malice.

The unfortunate incident that happened to the woman (42) goes like this. The victim's son Ashok (20) was in love with Priyanka (18), and they eloped last Monday. Infuriated, Priyanka's relatives barged into the victim's house, assaulted her, dragged her out of the house, paraded her naked and tied her around an electric pole.

The court noted that there were many people present, but nobody did anything to prevent the atrocity. It was collective cowardice and needed to be addressed, the court said and added that police are not of British Raj.

The court said that the people of the entire village should be held responsible. Those who serve lip service are not what society need. None should have stood as a mute spectator, the court said, adding that there must be a collective responsibility in preventing such incidents.

Later, the court directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to initiate an investigation into the case. It also said that a large number of people visiting the victim must also be restricted because of the trauma she is going through.