Father, 18-year-old son allegedly paraded naked over relationship with minor girl in Kolkata

An 18-year-old man, his father and friend were allegedly forced to strip and walk naked along a crowded road in Kolkata's Sarsuna on Sunday after being threatened at gunpoint by the family of a 13-year-old girl, police said.

Three people, including the girl's parents and maternal uncle Rahul Burman, the prime accused, have been arrested. The family allegedly objected to the 18-year-old's relationship with the minor, police said.

The incident occured when the young man went to the Basundhara Park to meet the girl during Lakshmi Puja on Sunday evening. He and his friend were allegedly held by the accused, who later summoned the young man's father over the phone, a police officer investigating the case said on condition of anonymity.

"Rahul Burman, who works for online delivery companies, allegedly held a pistol at the young man, his father and his friend and threatened to kill them. The three were allegedly assaulted," the officer said.

‘Shoot son or stab him’

According to the officer, the young man's father alleged that Burman asked him to either shoot his son with the pistol or stab him with a knife that had been heated in an oven. When the father refused, all three were allegedly forced to strip and walk naked along the main road.

The man's father said the accused did not allow them to walk through a narrow bylane and instead took them to a crowded main road. "We were not allowed to walk along a narrow bylane when they wanted to parade us. They took us to the crowded main road. People shot videos which went viral," he said.

Police have invoked multiple charges against the accused, including criminal intimidation, kidnapping, unlawful confinement, outraging the modesty of a woman, and the use of an illegal firearm and a sharp weapon. A senior Kolkata Police officer said the charges had been framed under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

A group of angry residents of Basundhara Park allegedly ransacked the girl's house on Sunday night and again on Monday morning. Personnel from Sarsuna police station were deployed in the area to maintain law and order amid tension following the incident.