'Begged for mercy, no one listened': woman flogged in West Bengal narrates ordeal

A video of a woman being flogged in public in West Bengal over her illicit affair had sparked off a national furore, with the incident even being raised by PM Modi in the Rajya Sabha.

Days after the video went viral, the woman spoke to the Indian Express newspaper detailing her ordeal.

In the interview, the 38-year-old woman said that she was prepared for such an assault, but did not expect the video to go viral.

"Can you plan and fall in love?” she said.

“What happened here would have stayed here if the video didn’t spread,” she was quoted as saying.

The woman, who married 18 years ago and has two children, said that she fell in love with another man five years ago.

At first, they would meet in secret, but when her husband found out, she was asked to leave home. On June 27, she said that she moved in with the other man, who is 35 and also married. But on the next that, i.e., June 28, a kangaroo court was called, during which the main accused, TMC’s Tajimul Islam alias JCB, showed up. She said that it was Islam who led the assault.

For hours, the couple was flogged relentlessly even as they pleaded for mercy from the dozens of crowd who were baying for their blood to mete out so-called "justice". According to the Indian Express, the incident took place a stone’s throw from the woman’s home.

After the video went viral, the police came into action and slammed attempted murder charge, and Islam was subsequently arrested.

Putting the horrible incident behind her past, the woman said that she will now live her "life on her own terms."

The woman has been sequestered in Uttar Dinajpur, where several policemen stand guard, according to the report.