Madhya Pradesh: Woman thrashed, forced to walk with boy on shoulders by in-laws

A tribal woman was beaten up and forced to walk for three km carrying a teenage boy on her shoulders by her in-laws in Madhya Pradesh's Guna district, police said on Tuesday.

Five persons have been arrested in connection with the incident that took place at Sanai village, said Guna superintendent of police (SP) Rajesh Kumar Mishra.

The incident took place on February 9 and came to light on Monday when a purported video of it went viral.

A case has been registered against a total of eight persons inlcluding a minor, the police official said. Earlier the police had said the woman's husband was among the accused, but the SP later said he was not among them.

In the video, the woman, who is around 20 years old, is seen walking barefoot with the boy on her shoulders as some men keep hitting her with sticks and even with cricket bats.

The woman, who married a man from Banskhedi village two years ago, had separated from him due to some dispute and and was living with another man in Sanai, the SP said.

On February 9, when she was alone, some members of her estranged husband's family and the boy turned up and and allegedly beat her up, he said.

They also forced the woman to walk for three km with the boy on her shoulders, the SP said.

Based on a complaint lodged by the woman at Sirsi police station, the police arrested five of the eight accused, he said.

State Congress chief Kamal Nath claimed the woman was pregnant, and said what happened was against humanity.

"Shivraj-ji (chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan), is this your good governance?" he asked.

"A pregnant woman was forced to walk barefoot with a boy on her shoulders. A procession was taken out and she was beaten up mercilessly," the former chief minister said, demanding stern action against the culprits.

To a query, additional superintendent of police T S Baghel said according to available information, the victim was not pregnant.