A viral video showing a mob armed with sticks and iron rods thrashing vehicles and attacking people, before violently taking away a woman from her house, has sent shockwaves across India.
Police in Telangana state arrested 31 people within hours of the home invasion and abduction, which happened in broad daylight on Friday morning. However, the man police believe is at the centre of the mob attack, Kodudula Naveen Reddy, is still at large. Reddy, a tea baron, is accused of leading the violent mob to kidnap the dentist, hours before her engagement to another man.
Videos by VICE
Despite recent calls by prime minister Narendra Modi to end misogyny, crimes against women in India are rising. Official data recorded 76,263 kidnappings and abductions in 2020, of which 28,222 were to “compel [women into] marriage.”
The incident is a part of an increasing trend of “crimes of passion” police classify as “jilted lover syndrome.” It’s leading to murders, abductions, acid attacks and other forms of violence against women across India. In August, a stalker along with a gang of 15 men kidnapped a woman at knife-point in Tamil Nadu state because she refused his marriage proposal. The woman was rescued by the police hours later, and the stalker and his gang were arrested. India reports a stalking case every 55 minutes.
At a press conference, police said that last week’s abduction was preplanned, and that Reddy attacked the woman while holding her hostage. “[The] victim was in shock and couldn’t say anything,” Sudheer Babu, a senior police officer, said. On Monday, police found Reddy’s car, used to kidnap the woman, abandoned outside the city.
The woman, a dentist, was rescued the same night and her parents registered a police complaint against Reddy. According to the parents’ police statement, Reddy had been stalking and harassing their daughter for months.
Reddy, according to the police report, set up a tea shop opposite her house to keep a track of her. He is the director of a registered company called Mr Tea Food and Beverages Private Limited, and also owns three other private companies.
Reddy met the dentist at a badminton school and two months later approached her with a marriage proposal, which she rejected. Police told the media that Reddy claims to be married to the woman, and that the kidnapping was done to rescue her from getting engaged to another man.
The dentist, however, denies this claim, saying that the day Reddy claims they got married, she was at an Army dental hospital conducting training. “I have not signed any papers,” she told the media gathered outside her house after her rescue this weekend.
She confirmed that, while holding her hostage, Reddy grabbed her by her hair, hit her in the face multiple times, and threatened to kill her parents if she didn’t agree to marry him. She now wants police protection for her family, who were left bleeding by the mob attack too.
Police commissioner Mahesh Bhagwath, who is overseeing the investigation, said they’re in the process of collecting evidence. The woman also went through a medical examination.
“We assure the citizens that all such anti-social elements, who breach the law and order, will be cracked down with stern legal action,” Bhagwath told the media.
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