Army Man's Wife 'Beaten': Cops Claim Jawan's Family Initiated Assault, CCTV Footage Surfaces; 2 Held

In what marks the latest development in the Army jawan’s wife assault case, the Tamil Nadu police released a CCTV claiming that the attack was in fact initiated by the army jawan’s family.

In the CCTV footage from the site, which CNN-News18 accessed, one person can be seen running and initiating the physical assault. The police claim it was Army jawan’s family that started the attack as against their claims.

The issue began when an Indian Army jawan in the video alleged that his wife was stripped half-naked and brutally beaten by over 100 men in Tamil Nadu due to a land-related dispute.

The video was shared by a retired Army officer, Lt Col N Thiagarajan, and it featured Army jawan Havildar Prabhakaran, who is currently posted in Kashmir.

Prabhakaran alleged in the video that her wife, who runs a shop in Tamil Nadu, was brutally beaten by 120 men, and stripped half-naked while her shop was vandalised in Thiruvannamalai district.

The police called it a family issue and said that a scuffle broke out between the jawan’s wife and the men due to a land lease dispute. The woman reportedly runs a shop on land leased by Renugambal temple.

The police told the media that an agreement to return the land in exchange for the money was signed in February but the jawan’s wife and her mother refused to vacate the land after which the clash broke out between the parties.

The Kandhavasal Police in its preliminary probe made by Jawan’s family were “exaggerated,” however, the police provided them protection. They also added that relevant cases have been filed by both the parties and two people have already been arrested.

“Based on a complaint by the jawan, an FIR (First Information Report) was filed under relevant sections. Two of the accused — Ramu and Hariprasad — have already been arrested,” the SP said told ANI.

The Army jawan’s wife, who claims that she was assaulted and injured her nose in the process, is admitted to the hospital and is undergoing treatment.

Meanwhile, BJP Tamil Nadu chief K Annamalai also took stock of the incident and said that he spoke with the Havildar.

“Had a telephonic conversation with the Havildar, who is bravely serving our country in Kashmir and his wife, based out of Tiruvannamalai. Truly gutted to hear her story & I felt ashamed that this had happened to her on our Tamil soil! Our party people are rushing to attend to her now, who is admitted to a hospital in Vellore,” he wrote on Twitter.