Outrage in Andhra as Woman Tied to Tree and Assaulted Over Husband’s Debt in Chittoor Village
In a deeply disturbing incident that has sparked outrage and raised serious questions about societal attitudes toward women and the poor, a 28-year-old woman in Narayanapuram village of Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh, was tied to a tree and brutally assaulted by a local man and his family over an unpaid debt owed by her husband.
The incident, which took place in Kuppam mandal—the very constituency of newly elected Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu—is being seen as yet another stark reminder of how debt, poverty, and gender-based violence intersect in rural India, often with devastating consequences.
According to the police, the woman, Sirisha, was forcibly dragged out of her home in front of her two minor children by S. Manikappa, reportedly a local member of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
Her only “crime”? Her husband, a daily wage laborer named R. Timappa, had taken a loan of ₹80,000 from Manikappa two years ago and had defaulted on further payments after migrating to Bengaluru in search of work.
Instead of addressing the issue through legal or community mechanisms, Manikappa and his family took the law into their own hands. In full view of the villagers, Sirisha was tied to a tree and subjected to physical violence, particularly by Manikappa’s wife, Munemm, and sister-in-law, as seen in a video that has now gone viral on social media.
The video shows bystanders attempting to intervene, but the assault continues regardless—a chilling reflection of how mob justice, silence, and patriarchal attitudes still dominate local life in many parts of the country.
Sirisha had reportedly returned to the village briefly to collect school transfer certificates for her children, hoping to shift them to Bengaluru, where the family had relocated due to economic hardship.
Instead, she was publicly humiliated and assaulted, not for her actions, but for a loan she did not even take herself—a telling example of how women continue to be punished for the perceived failures of the men in their lives.
The Chittoor police confirmed that a case has been registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including wrongful restraint, voluntarily causing hurt, criminal intimidation, and criminal conspiracy. A total of six people, including Manikappa and his family members, have been arrested.
“Manikappa tied her to a tree and demanded repayment. His wife and sister-in-law then beat her. We intervened, rescued the victim, and have taken swift action,” said a senior police official involved in the case.
While the arrests may offer a degree of accountability, activists and legal experts say this incident reflects broader systemic issues: the lack of legal awareness among villagers, weak local dispute resolution mechanisms, and deep-rooted gender biases that permit such violence to be normalized.
A Larger Societal Failure
This case is not just about a private debt dispute gone wrong—it is about how power is exercised in rural India, often with caste and political affiliations playing a role in enabling or emboldening perpetrators. It also shines a light on how women continue to be used as leverage, scapegoated, and brutalized when men default on social or financial obligations.
Furthermore, this violent act occurred in the Chief Minister’s constituency, raising questions about law and order, political influence, and the protection of marginalized communities, particularly women and the working poor.
Social workers and women’s rights advocates have called for stronger institutional safeguards, the setting up of debt counseling cells at the village level, and mandatory gender sensitization of local panchayats and police.
“It’s not enough to arrest the culprits. What Sirisha went through is an example of dehumanization in the name of debt recovery. We need systems in place that prevent such barbarity,” said a local women’s rights activist in Chittoor.
As the nation grapples with rising incidents of mob violence and gender-based crimes, the case of Sirisha must serve as a wake-up call—a reminder that economic justice, gender justice, and legal accountability are not separate struggles but part of the same fight for dignity and human rights.
