Woman assaulted in Assam 'moral policing' case; 12 arrested

In a case of 'moral policing', a woman was assaulted by a group of men when she was going with a male friend to a medical centre in Goalpara district of Assam and the police has arrested 12 people for the incident, a senior officer said today.

"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, when some youths attacked them. The youths mainly targeted the woman," Goalpara SP Amitava Sinha told PTI.

The 22-year-old woman was beaten up by local people after she was spotted with her friend at Aolguri area which comes under the jurisdiction of Krishnai police station, he said.

Police have registered an FIR in the case and nabbed six people yesterday and six more today, Sinha said and added that the woman and her friend were apparently going to a medical centre when the beating incident took place.

The attackers sought an explanation from the woman for going out with another man, he said, adding that the victim and her assaulters belong to the Garo community.

A video of the assault has gone viral on the social media, in which the group of men were seen hitting the woman on her face, pulling her hair and kicking her.

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