2 tribal women thrashed in MP for chatting on phone with male cousins; 7 held

Dhar, July 4

Two tribal sisters here in Madhya Pradesh were assaulted with sticks by their relatives for allegedly chatting with their uncle's sons over the phone, police said on Sunday.

Seven people were arrested in connection with the incident, which took place last month after a video of it went viral on social media platforms, they said.

In the video, several people, including a woman, were purportedly seen hitting the victims with sticks and dragging them by their hair.

The victims, aged 19 and 20, were beaten up by their kin on June 22 in Pipalva village, located around 70 km from Dhar district headquarters, Tanda police station in-charge Vijay Vaskale said.

“On June 25, we came across a video in which two women were seen being beaten up. While verifying the clip, we came to know that their family members were involved in this," he said.

The police found that their family members were angry over the women talking on the phone to the sons of their maternal uncle, the official said.

The two women were later brought to the Tanda police station and a case was registered based on their complaint, he said, adding that seven people were arrested in connection with the incident.

According to the official, the women told the police that their paternal cousins and other family members stopped them near a school in the village.

They allegedly objected to the women talking to their cousins over the phone and subsequently assaulted them with sticks, the official added.

A few days back, a 20-year-old tribal woman was tied to a tree and assaulted with sticks by her kin in MP's Alirajpur district for leaving her husband's home and staying with her uncle.

A video of that incident had also gone viral on social media. PTI