Caught assaulting elderly couple on CCTV, Chandigarh man arrested

A 21-year-old man was arrested on Friday for assaulting an elderly couple at their mobile shop in Chandigarh's Sector 18 market, police said. Though many people were present in the market at that time, no one intervened to come to the rescue of the couple.

The assault on the couple, Joginder Pal Soni and his wife Santosh, was recorded on CCTV cameras and went viral on social networking sites and news channels forcing the police to act.

The assaulter, Rajiv Kashyap, who is a neighbour of the couple, was allegedly drunk when he attacked them.

The couple, including the woman, were slapped over a dozen times. Kashyap also forcefully butted the elderly man on the nose with his head. He also damaged their shop and abused them.

"He hit me and my husband very badly. He broke my teeth. My whole face is swollen. My husband suffered a fracture in the hand. We were helpless. No one in the market came to help or save us from the assault," Santosh told media persons after the incident.

"After the incident, we got the medical examination of the couple done. The entire incident was caught on CCTV footage. Both sides, under pressure from others, wanted to go for compromise. But in view of the CCTV footage which was so provocative and objectionable, the police took the initiative and registered a case (against the assaulter)," Chandigarh's Inspector General of Police (IGP) R.P. Upadhyay told media persons here.

The IGP said the attack took place after an argument between the victim woman and the mother of the assaulter at their home. Both families are neighbours in adjoining Sector 19.