A video clip of a youth beating up an elderly couple in Chandigarh went viral on the social media and news channels, forcing police to act and arrest the accused.
The entire sequence of events was recorded in a CCTV installed in the mobile shop at Sector 18 run by the couple. The assaulter, Rajiv Kashyap (21), who is a neighbour of the couple and a driver, was allegedly drunk when he attacked them, said police, adding that though many people were present in the market at that time, no one tried to rescue of the couple.
The video recording showed Rajiv entering the mobile shop run by Joginderpal Soni (58) and his wife Santhosh Kumari (56), and beat them up on Wednesday night, police said.
"He hit me and my husband very badly. He broke my teeth. My whole face is swollen. My husband suffered a fracture in the hand. We were helpless. No one in the market came to help or save us from the assault," Santhosh told the media.
Police said the accused tried to misbehave with the woman and when she resisted him, he slapped her, breaking her teeth. When the woman's husband intervened, Rajiv also hit him, breaking his arm.
The victim maintained that they had no personal enmity with the youth. “After the incident, we got the medical examination of the couple done. The entire incident was caught on CCTV footage. Both sides, under pressure from others, wanted to go for compromise. But in view of the CCTV footage which was so provocative and objectionable, police took the initiative and registered a case (against the assaulter)," Chandigarh's Inspector General of Police (IGP) RP Upadhyay said.
The IGP said the attack took place after an argument between the victim woman and the mother of the assaulter at their home. Both families are neighbours in adjoining Sector 19.