In a harrowing incident that has evoked widespread outrage, a woman was paraded half-naked in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district, leading the Punjab and Haryana High Court to draw a poignant comparison with the Mahabharata’s “chirharan of Draupadi.” The court described the act as “barbaric and shameful,” reminiscent of the ancient epic’s scene where Draupadi was humiliated by the Kauravas.
The distressing event unfolded after a video surfaced on social media, showing a 55-year-old woman being assaulted and paraded in a semi-naked state by her son’s in-laws, allegedly as retribution for her son eloping with their daughter. The viral footage prompted widespread condemnation and led to the arrest of three out of the five accused involved in the incident.
Justice Sanjay Vashisth of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, deeply moved by the incident, remarked on the haunting similarity to Draupadi’s disrobing, underscoring the historic silence of the Pandavas and its catastrophic consequences. He expressed concern over the judicial system’s potential inactivity in the face of such egregious acts, emphasizing that the court would not stand idly by.
A division bench, including Acting Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Lapita Banerji, has taken decisive action, issuing a notice to the Punjab government to remove the video from social media platforms and demanding a comprehensive report on the measures taken against the perpetrators.
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This incident has reignited discussions on women’s safety and the responsiveness of the judicial and law enforcement systems to acts of public humiliation and violence, echoing the timeless lessons of accountability and justice from one of India’s greatest epics.
