Guwahati’s ugly reality replays in Kanpur, woman thrashed with belt

In a virtual replay of the attack on a girl in Guwahati recently, two men in Kanpur accosted a 22-year-old woman and beat her up mercilessly in full view of a crowd. They tried to tear off her clothes and thrashed her with a belt. The woman kept screaming for help but no one came forward. Even the police tried to cover up the incident and registered an FIR only after the intervention of an NGO. No arrest has been made so far.

The unseemly incident took place in the Bagahi area under Babupurwa police station area of Kanpur on Saturday evening. Kavita (name changed) was returning home from office around 5 pm when two men, Shahzade and Kabir, accosted her and started making lewd remarks and advances.

As the woman resisted their attempts, the two started hitting her. One of them removed his belt and beat Kavita. She bravely fought them off and even snatched the belt from them and managed to push them away. As she saw a crowd gathering, she screamed for help but no one came forward. The two men pounced on her again, thrashed her and also tried to tear her clothes.

Failing in their designs, the two men left after hurling abuses at her. Kavita managed to get home on her own and later went to the Babupurwa police station with her family. The police tried to water down the incident and did not register an FIR. It was only after the intervention of a women’s organization around 11 pm that the police finally registered the FIR.

When asked about the incident on Sunday afternoon, additional DG (law and order) Jagmohan Yadav told reporters that he was not aware of it. Kanpur DIG Amitabh Yash told the media that the woman’s report had been lodged and the police were trying to nab the accused.