A video showing a gang of six youths thrashing and abusing a college girl and her male friend for at least 10 minutes on the outskirts of Uttar Pradesh's Hathras city has gone viral on WhatsApp.
The incident took place on 8 March when the girl and her friend had gone to a market on his motorbike. The gang of six young men, also on motorbikes, surrounded them and forced them to drive to the outskirts of the city, where they assaulted them.
"They abused and beat us repeatedly. I begged them to leave us, but they continued to misbehave and call me names," the girl said, according to an NDTV report.
In the video, the girl is heard begging the men to leave them even as they slapped the girl and thrashed the boy with a stick. She was heard calling them "bhai" and repeating that she doesn't know the boy well and that he was just a classmate.
"Main usey nahin jaanti bhai, wo mere class mein padhta tha. Bhaai jaaney do humein, Chhod do please, last baar chhod do (I don't know him, brother, he used to study in my class... Please let us go, brother... Leave us for the last time...)," she said.
While begging for mercy, she was also trying to protect the boy, who is seen hiding between the girl and the motorbike. She even asked her friend to not to call her again: "Tum aaj ke baad phone nahin karogey".
As others assaulted the duo, one of the youths was filming the entire incident on his mobile camera while another one was heard saying, "WhatsApp pe daalni hai (We have to put up the video on WhatsApp)".
The girl had not reported the incident to her family but as the gang had threatened, they shared the video on WhatsApp and the girl's uncle saw it. He lodged a complaint at the police station, following which four of the six men were taken into custody while the police are hunting down the rest.
According to police sources, the assaulters and the girl belonged to the same village and one of them was in love with her.
