Four women were arrested for allegedly beating up, stripping and parading a 30-year-old woman over a dispute at a village in Madhya Pradesh's Indore district, police said on Wednesday.
A video of the purported incident that occurred during the Holi celebrations also surfaced on social media.
“On Monday, four women forcibly pulled the victim out of her house, beat her up and humiliated her by stripping her naked in public at Bachhora village of Gautampura police station area,” Superintendent of Police (Rural) Sunil Mehta said.
All four accused women were later arrested, he said.
Mr. Mehta visited the village on Wednesday and said peace prevails there now. But as the victim is disturbed due to her humiliation, she has gone to her parents' home, he said.
One of the accused suspected that the victim was instigating her mother-in-law against her. She also suspected that the victim had taken her mother-in-law to Mandsaur without informing her, the police official said.
According to him, some onlookers in the village shot video of the humiliating act and circulated it. These people are being identified and appropriate legal steps will be taken against them, he said.
Eyewitnesses said the accused women dragged the victim out of her house and stripped her. They said that the victim woman kept pleading for mercy at the time of the incident, but the accused did not relent and they openly stripped her by tearing her clothes. They also took her to some distance on the common road of the village in the same condition.
A police officer said that a case has been registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 354-A (sexual harassment) and 452 (wrongfully restraining and assaulting).
