Indian authorities arrested a senior government employee after he allegedly beat a disabled woman with a stick after she had asked him to wear a face mask.
The incident occurred Saturday afternoon at a hotel in the Nellore district, located in India’s Andhra Pradesh state, and was caught by the hotel’s security cameras.
The woman, identified by The New Indian Express as Checuri Usharani, had asked C Bhaskar to wear a mask while in their office as part of mandatory safety measures advised by the government during the coronavirus pandemic.
Bhaskar, who was working as a deputy manager at the department-run AP Tourism Hotel in Dargamitta, apparently became upset that a lower-ranking colleague had given him direction, the Times of India reported.
A man can be seen in the CCTV footage — which has since gone viral on social media — grabbing a woman by her hair, dragging her to the ground and repeatedly using a wooden stick from a chair to hit her.
“Crime against women is unacceptable. We condemn the Nellore incident and action has been taken against the accused for manhandling the lady official,” said Gautam Sawang, director general of police in the Andhra Pradesh state.
A man can be seen in the CCTV footage — which has since gone viral on social media — grabbing a woman by her hair, dragging her to the ground and repeatedly using a wooden stick from a chair to hit her.
“Crime against women is unacceptable. We condemn the Nellore incident and action has been taken against the accused for manhandling the lady official,” said Gautam Sawang, director general of police in the Andhra Pradesh state.
Multiple colleagues attempted to intervene in the altercation before eventually walking Bhaskar out of the room, the video shows.
The woman has placed a complaint with local police against Bhaskar, who reportedly has had a long-standing grudge against her.
The woman and her husband have confronted Bhaskar in the past for spreading rumors about her, the New India Express reported.
Bhaskar has been arrested and sent into judicial remand. A case has been filed against Bhaskar under the following Indian penal codes: assaulting a woman intending to outrage her modesty, using force to dishonor a person and causing injuries using a weapon, said K Venugopal, sub-inspector of Dargamitta police.