Gujarat: 7 held after video of mob thrashing couple goes viral

According to the police, the couple identified as Ramila Baria and Vimsinh Mackwana, both in their early 20s, eloped from the village a year ago and got married after their families disapproved of their relationship. On Monday, the woman’s family traced them to a village in Jhalod taluka of Dahod and brought them back to Moli village.

At the village, they thrashed the couple, tore Vimsinh’s clothes and forced him to walk around with Ramila mounted on his shoulders, police said. In the video of the incident that emerged on Tuesday, a large group of people, including men and young boys, are seen parading the couple and thrashing them.

A complaint was lodged at Sanjeli police station by the owner of the house in Jhalod where the couple lived. Based on the complaint, the accused have been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 367 (Kidnapping) 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation) and 114 (abettor present) and under relevant section of the IT Act.

“We first traced the source of the video and then started an investigation. An FIR was lodged against unknown people. But so far we have identified seven people and arrested them as well,” investigating officer PD Israni said. “We are now identifying more people from the video who belong to both the man’s and the woman’s family. Most of them have fled the village so we have formed teams to track them down.”

Since the video was shot, both Ramila and Vimsinh are missing. “We have found out that both Ramila and Vimsinh are not present in the village. We are investigating whether they have left the village on their own will or if somebody has forcibly kept them in hiding,” Israni said. “As per preliminary investigations, there is a possibility that they ran away the same night the incident happened. But until we find them, we are investigating all possibilities.”