INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
a green kurta is seen lying on dusty ground, trying desperately to shield herself from punches and kicks from a group of angry men who stood
One of them, his sleeves rolled up, pulls her hair from behind and then kicks her in the groin as he shouts something at her
Then another man punches her on the face
Not once, but thrice.All this is seen in a video that was reportedly shot at Meghalaya's West Garo Hills District, some 70 kilometres from
the border with Bangladesh.Taking note of the incident, the Meghalaya police have filed a case on their own and have arrested the main
The police said they have formed teams and have fanned out across the district to arrest the other men seen in the video."It is a clear case
The woman is safe and is being counselled after she went through the ordeal," a police officer said.The woman, who appeared to be in her
early twenties, belongs to the Garo tribal community in the north-east state
The men thrashed her because she was in a relationship with a man who was not from their community, people familiar with the matter said
They said the video was shot two-three days ago, though the police are investigating to find out when exactly the attack on the woman
happened.West Garo Hills is second to East Khasi Hills in the number of crime against women reported to police, the Meghalaya Police's
district-wise report on its website shows
One of the state's largest towns, Tura, which is also the constituency of Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, is in the West Garo Hills.The video
of the Meghalaya assault surfaced barely days after another video was found circulating in social media, which showed a 22-year-old woman
from the Garo community stripped and thrashed in neighbouring Assam's Goalpara district, 160 km from state capital Guwahati.In the Assam
video, the woman standing next to a vehicle can be seen screaming as two men pull her hair and kick her as she tries to make an urgent phone
Another man is seen recording the harassment on his mobile phone as the woman is hit on her face.The police said they believe that the
assault on the woman and her Muslim companion is a case of moral policing as the men thought the two were in a relationship and decided to
take matters into their own hands.
