Two women get slapped, kicked, dragged by the hair and beaten with sticks by at least seven people in disturbing videos that have emerged from Madhya Pradesh.
The tribal women, who are cousins, were tortured in full public view by their family members because they were apparently talking to their maternal cousins - enraging the family. Many onlookers watched the crime, even recorded videos, but no one intervened to save the women from the bashing.
The incident happened on June 22 and just days later the videos were shared widely on social media after which the police intervened. The young women were sent for a medical check-up and seven people, including one woman's mother and brother, have been arrested, police said.
The brutal crime took place in Dhar district's Pipalwa village. Videos show the women standing near a river when their cousins gang up on them and beat them up.
One woman shrieks out in pain as she is kicked and dragged by her hair while she tries to escape, videos show. One accused repeatedly thrashes her with a stick. In another video, the woman's mother too joins in the barbaric torture - slapping her, pulling her hair and hitting her with a slipper.
The woman was apparently then taken back to the village where the torture reportedly continued. The bruised cousins were seen sitting motionless in another video as a big crowd surrounded them.
The incident occurred days before a similar savagery where a 19-year-old woman was tied to a tree and beaten with sticks on camera by her father and cousins in adjoining Alirajpur. The family members were apparently angry at the woman, who got married three months ago, for leaving the house of her in-laws and coming home for a visit.
