Balrampur, June 21: Seven tribals, including a minor boy, were allegedly thrashed with sticks in front of villagers in Chhattisgarh's Balrampur district after they were accused of stealing fishes from a pond, following which husband of the village sarpanch and nine others were arrested on Monday, police said.

The incident occurred on June 15 in Chera village under Trikunda police station limits but a case was registered only on Monday after a complaint was lodged by one of the victims, said Dhruvesh Jaiswal, Sub Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP), Wadrafnagar. Madhya Pradesh: Minor Thrashed, Made To Smoke a Cigarette and Lick Shoes Over Monetary Dispute in Jabalpur, Video Goes Viral.

The seven victims, all belonging to the Pando tribal community, were accused of stealing fishes from a pond in the village on June 15 and were forcibly taken to the farmhouse of Satyam Yadav, the husband of the village Sarpanch, the officer said quoting the FIR.

"At the farmhouse, Satyam Yadav and others allegedly held a 'jan chaupal' during which all the seven people were brutally beaten up with sticks," he said. Videos of the brutality went viral on various social media platforms.

A video clip shows victims being purportedly made to stand one by one by holding a tree. A man is seen beating them up with sticks repeatedly on their backs. The victims were also slapped and abused when they objected, the SDOP said.

The accused also imposed a fine of Rs 35,000 on each of the victims accusing them of stealing fishes and eating them, the SDOP said, adding the accused had threatened the victims with dire consequences if they approached the police.

"However, one of the victims lodged a complaint in this connection following which the accused were booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act," he said. The accused were produced in a local court which remanded them in judicial custody, he added.

The other accused are identified as Jitendra Pratap Yadav, Banshidhar Yadav, Basdev Yadav, Alok Yadav, Jitendra Yadav, Jai Prakash Yadav, Jamuna Yadav, Devsai Yadav and Dinanath Yadav, he said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)