Congress MLA Rumi Nath and her second husband were severely beaten up by a mob at Karimganj town in Assam for marrying her Facebook friend without divorcing her first husband, police said.
The 33-year-old was thrashed for allegedly marrying a 28-year-old "Facebook friend" named Jacky Zakir. She left her first husband and her 2-year-old daughter.
"Nath and Zakir were beaten up by a mob of more than 200 people at a hotel in the town where they were staying late last night," news agency Press Trust of India reported quoting Superintendent of Police Pradip Pujari.
The incident happened on Friday night after Nath went to meet her father at a Karimganj hotel.
The angry mob gathered at the hotel and severely assaulted them. Her bodyguards too were beaten up by the people. But police has taken no action against the mob in the case. Some TV footage showed the couple pleading to the angry mob for mercy.
Both Zakir and Nath were severely injured in the incident and were taken to a hospital in the state capital Guwahati for medical treatment.
Nath and her first husband Rakesh Singh, an Uttar Pradesh-based physician, got married four years ago and has a 2-year-old daughter.
Earlier, when Nath went missing, Singh had lodged a complaint suspecting that his wife was kidnapped. However, after a month's absence, she emerged in Guwahati and admitted that she had married Zakir without divorcing Singh. She also admitted that she converted to Islam and has changed her name to Rabia Sultana.
In a television interview, Nath defended her decision and said, "I have not committed any crime. I have no fear and am ready to face every situation."
However, an umbrella body of advocates has denounced her second marriage stating it as illegal.
