Nine held for assaulting minor couple in UP's Maharajganj

Nine people were arrested on Thursday after a minor couple was allegedly tied to a pole and the boy thrashed for having an affair with the girl in Uttar Pradesh's Maharajganj district, police said.

The boy was also apprehended on the basis of a complaint lodged by the girl's family, they said.

Reportedly, the incident took place 10 days ago. However, the arrests were made only after a video of the incident went viral on social media on Wednesday.

According to reports, the boy had gone to his girlfriend's village to meet her when they were caught by the villagers.

The viral video clip shows the villagers tying the couple to a pole and beating the boy.

"Taking cognisance of the video, three cases have been registered at the Gughli police station in Maharajganj district," said Superintendent of Police Rohit Singh Sajwan.

"The first case is against the boy under the POCSO Act on the basis of a written complaint received from the girl's family. The boy has been taken into custody by the police," he said.

"The second case is against those who had tied the couple and thrashed them. The third one has been registered Section 228 A of the IPC (disclosure of identity of the victim of certain offences) against a social media account which circulated the video," he said.

The people arrested for assaulting the couple have been identified as Bholu Prajapati, Pawan Prajapati, Sahilesh Yadav, Ajit, Mohit, Vishwamitra, Manjeet Yadav, Phoolbadan Yadav and Awdhesh Prajapati, the police said.