A 25-year-old woman employee of a unisex salon in Greater Noida was allegedly beaten up by her employer and his three friends over a salary dispute.

A purported video of the incident, in which the suspects are seen kicking the woman and pulling her by hair, went viral on social media. The salon owner was arrested on Monday evening, two days after the incident on Saturday.

According to the woman, the accused went to file a complaint against her at the Knowledge Park police station after the incident on Saturday.

“However, when I reached the police station on Saturday, they took my complaint but did not act on it seriously,” she alleged. A day later, the police registered an FIR against the accused on Sunday.

The woman on Monday visited the office of the senior superintendent of police (SSP ) in Surajpur to draw the attention of senior officials, after which the salon owner, Waseem, was arrested.

The woman, who lives in Bhangel, had joined the Venus Unisex Salon in Knowledge Park II as a makeup artist on March 16 on a monthly salary of ₹17,000, according to her police complaint. She alleged that Waseem demanded physical relations when she asked for her salary.

“On Saturday evening, they called me to collect my salary. When I reached the salon, Waseem’s friend Shera tried to rape me. I put up resistance and came out of the salon. Then all the four started thrashing me,” she said. The victim alleged that her employer had not been releasing her salary on one pretext or the other for the last 10 days.

“I raised an alarm and people gathered around for my rescue. The four men thrashed me badly before local people rushed for my help,” she alleged in her complaint.

The woman said she informed the police. “The police team arrived late and the accused managed to escape,” she said.

Police said prima facie it appears a dispute between the employee and the employer over salary.

“The employee was demanding ₹17,000 per month while the employer was offering something less. They could not agree on a certain amount, which escalated the matter,” said a police officer on condition of anonymity.

Vineet Jaiswal, superintendent of police (rural) said that police received the alleged video of the beating incident. “On Sunday, police registered a case against the accused under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of IPC. The four accused had fled away after the incident. The police arrested the main accused, Waseem, Monday ,” Jaiswal said.

First Published: May 14, 2019 05:01 IST