Torture video goes viral, leads to woman’s arrest as CM steps in

Gurgaon/Chandigarh: A woman was arrested in Mahendergarh’s Narnaul after a video, in which she was seen thrashing her 80-year-old mother-in-law, went viral on social media. The act was captured on a mobile phone by a girl, who is one of the neighbours of the elderly woman residing in Narnaul’s Niwaz Nagar village, according to police.
The footage, which has been doing rounds on WhatsApp and other social media platforms, has prompted the state machinery to take swift action in the domestic abuse case. Two clips shot by the neighbour on Monday and Tuesday showed Kanta Devi pushing and thrashing her widowed mother-in-law Chand Bai (80) while the latter was lying on her cot in the courtyard of their Narnaul home.
The video, which had gone viral over three days, eventually reached the chief minister’s office, after which CM Manohar Lal Khattar ordered to register a case. He described it as a “deplorable and condemnable” act. In a tweet on Saturday, Khattar said such behaviour should not be tolerated in a civilised society.
“Kanta Devi could not take care of the old woman and considered her to be a burden. That is why she assaulted her,” Narnaul superintendent of police Chander Mohan told agencies on Saturday. Kanta Devi had been on the run after the video went viral. She was arrested in New Delhi, according to police.
Bai’s husband was an assistant sub-inspector in BSF. After his demise, she receives widow’s pension of Rs 30,000 monthly. A police officer said, “We have taken Bai for medical examination after recording her statement.”
The neighbour, who recorded the video, said she was shocked to see the ordeal of the elderly woman.
Kanta has been remanded in judicial custody. “She has been charged with Section 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the IPC,” SP Mohan said, adding that further investigation is under way.