Assam: Men publicly thrash woman in an act of ‘moral police’

Guwahati: A gruesome incident of brutal public assault on an Assamese woman by a bunch of muggers have surfaced on the internet.

The incident is reported from Assam’s Goalpara district where a young 22-year-old woman was publicly beaten up, kicked, thrashed by assaulters on Sunday after they stopped her on her way to a medical center with a male friend.

According to the Police, this ‘thrashing act’ is termed as ‘moral policing’ and have arrested as many as 12 people in connection with the incident.

The assaulters also attacked the woman’s male friend who happens to be a Muslim.

The Police suspect the assaulters thought the duo were in a relationship and hence acted out of anger.

As per Goalpara SP Amitava Sinha, the woman’s marriage has been fixed and watching her going with another man irked other men.

“This is a case of moral policing. What we have come to know is that the woman’s marriage has been fixed. She was going somewhere with her male friend yesterday (Sunday), when some youths attacked them. The youths mainly targeted the woman,” Goalpara SP Amitava Sinha told to news agency PTI.

The one minute and 18 seconds clip shows the woman crying for being repeatedly thrashed, kicked by several men, Times Now reports.

https://youtu.be/5KKdoZFjTPI

A case has been registered and the Police arrested 12 people involved in the assault.

“We are conducting further investigations to ascertain the involvement of more persons in the case,” Sinha said.

Meanwhile, women rights activist Jaynie Sangma was quoted as saying: “See the gruesome way she was beaten. It is clear from the video that people were slapping her, kicking her in full public view and no one came forward to her.”