Dhar (Madhya Pradesh): Three persons including a minor girl were allegedly forced by some people to dance with motorcycle tyres around their necks as a punishment for eloping in Dhar district, police said on Wednesday.
The minor girl,13, had allegedly helped a 21-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman to run away from home.
The incident took place at Kundi village under Gandhwani police station of the district on September 12. A purported video of the incident went viral on social media.
The Dhar police registered a case against five people and arrested three of them on Tuesday.
The video shows that the three of them are forced to dance with motorcycle tyres put around their necks. The video also shows a man hitting them with sticks a couple of times. The person who shot the video could be heard laughing along with others seen in the clip.
Additional superintendent of police (ASP), Devendra Patidar said the incident took place under Gandhwani police station limits, about 70 km from the district headquarters after the man and the woman returned to their village.
According to police, the woman had gone missing from her home in the village in July this year.
"Her family members were angry as she had fled with a man. They suspected that another young girl (seen in video) helped the woman in fleeing from her home," Patidar said.
After leaving their homes, the man and the woman went to Gujarat, another official said.
The woman's family members subsequently filed a missing person's complaint with local police.
When they returned in the second week of September, they were punished for their act, the police said.
After the video of the incident went viral on social media platforms on Tuesday, the police registered a case against five people and arrested three of them, Patidar said.
Efforts were on to nab the other two accused, he said.
The accused were booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 363 (kidnapping), 147 (rioting) and 294 (obscene act), and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he added.
