Bethudahari, July 6: A woman was allegedly stripped and thrashed in a Nadia village after she refused to sign an undertaking saying she would not set foot on a patch of government land in front of her house

Villagers accused her of trying to grab the two-cottah plot, where she usually put up a clothesline or sent her two cows to graze, and drove her out on June 26. She was told she would be burnt to death if she returned.

The woman, whose husband is a mason in Singapore, was admitted to a local health centre where she was given four stitches on the head.

Released from hospital last week, she did not dare to go back to Sonadanga village, 130km from Calcutta.

Her 18-year-old son said the Nakashipara police station had turned him away when he went to lodge a complaint on June 26.

His mother met additional superintendent of police Subrata Mitra today.

Mitra promised “strong action against the guilty” and asked the police station to submit a report on the alleged inaction.

Nakashipara officer-in-charge Pintu Saha today said: “I was not at the police station when the boy came. I will take immediate steps to send them home.”

Some of the villagers had told the woman to stay off the plot three weeks ago, but the woman did not take it seriously. Around 20 villagers, including some women, marched to her house on the afternoon of June 26 and demanded the undertaking.

“I refused and they dragged me out of my house. Then they slapped me and called out other villagers, who came with sticks and started hitting me,” the woman said. “They took off my sari and tore my blouse when I tried to run away.”

She has taken shelter in an acquaintance’s house in Bethuadahari, 5km from her village, with her sons Apu and Arup, and daughter Poppy. Apu is in Class XII, his brother in IX and sister in VII.

In Singapore, their father earns over Rs 20,000 a month. At Sonadanga, they have a computer at home.

The woman said “jealous” villagers had instigated the assault. “I have a refrigerator. Two months ago, I bought the computer for my son, who is in Class XII. The other villagers couldn’t take it,” she said.

CPM panchayat member Asim Ganguly, too, felt the same but he accused her of being “stubborn” over using the plot in front of her house. “She had provoked other villagers by regularly grazing her cows and hanging out her clothes to dry on the land,” said Ganguly.

Bipul Mullik, in his 20s, was among those who had suddenly turned fierce protectors of government property. “She may have a computer at home but why should she try to grab government land? We will not let her enter the village,” he said.

Fellow villager, Sujoy Chakraborty, 30, accused her of flaunting her wealth. “They are rich. Now they are trying to grab the government’s land.”