BELLARY, Aug 27: A Dalit woman was paraded naked by members of a Scheduled Tribe on Sunday night at Vanenur village in Bellary district. Seven of the eight people involved in the incident have been arrested. They were produced before a court and later released on bail.

About a month ago, a girl from the Valmiki community had eloped with a boy belonging to the ST community. Holding the woman responsible for the incident, some men of the Valmiki community barged into the house of the victim, dragged her out and paraded her naked in the village. When the victim's husband and daughter came to her rescue, they were beaten up mercilessly.

The victim told Deccan Herald: "I was wrongly accused. I have nothing to do with the elopement of the girl. When I was humiliated, none of the villagers came to my rescue. They were standing as mute spectators. Only after my brother-in-law contacted the police did the police come to the spot," she said.

Among the eight accused, three are women. They are Honnurappa Tandhe Rudraiah, Hondrappa Tandhe Kodadkaiah, Venkatesh Tandhe Bheemalingappa, Shivappa, Eshwarappa, Chandramma, Parvathamma and Shivalingamma. Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) M D Singh said cases of rioting, outraging the modesty of woman and hurting had been booked against the eight. He said they would be arrested again as one more assault complaint had been filed against them by the victim's brother.

SP K V Sharath Chandra said necessary protection had been provided to the victim and a strong contingent of policemen posted in the village. Several Dalit organisations in the district have demanded an impartial probe into the incident. Dalit leader D Yarriswami who visited the village this morning with the office-bearers of Dalit Sangharsha Samithi demanded suitable protection to Dalits and an impartial probe to identify the elements behind the incident.