A video of a woman being beaten publicly by a group of men in the tribal-dominated Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh went viral on social media. In the viral video, a group of men can be seen holding the woman as one man is seen hitting her with a wooden stick. The video also shows a group of onlookers filming the incident instead of trying to help the woman who was being assaulted.
The police swung into action after Dhar Superintendent of Police (SP) Manoj Singh watched the viral video and directed local area (Tanda police station) police to arrest the accused persons as soon as possible.
The video shows the helpless saree-clad woman being thrashed with sticks, and around a dozen more surround her to prevent her from running away.
An intense search operation was carried out by several police teams. Seven accused were arrested from different villages, news agency IANS reported on Saturday, citing officials.
On the viral video of a woman being beaten up by a group of men, Dhar SP Manoj Kumar Singh said, " Yesterday a video of a woman being beaten up went viral. When we received information regarding the video, we investigated it...the video was from Tanda, and the whole team was put into this...we got to know that the woman was beaten up by the village Sarpanch, villagers and the woman's family members...based on the complaint of the woman, we have filed a case under IPC sections 307, 34. The man who was seen beating the woman with a stick, who is also the Sarpanch, we arrested him...later we arrested the rest of the accused as well. Total 7 arrested. We are going to take strict action."
"All seven persons who have been made accused in the FIR lodged by the victim have been arrested. They have been booked under Section 307 of the IPC and other relevant sections. We assure you that the accused will be punished as per the law," Singh told IANS. The reason for the attack was being probed.
The incident occurred on June 20 after the woman allegedly fled from home with a man, PTI reported, citing police sources.