A video of a young woman having her burqa removed in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh has gone viral and caused outrage among social media users.
The incident happened on Saturday, April 12, 2025, evening when the girl was traveling on a motorbike with a colleague, who happens to be from another community.
The duo, both bank employees, were on a loan recovery assignment when a group of people stopped them and asked after their religion.
On learning they were from different religions, they beat up the couple and removed the woman's burqa.
Later, they shot the video which went viral on social media.
The Uttar Pradesh government is already facing heat over the gang-rape of a young woman in Kasganj last week and the gang-rape of another young woman in Varanasi for over a week.
In Kasganj, the woman had gone with her fiancé to a secluded canal area when eight men came by and raped her.
In Varanasi, a 19-year-old woman was raped by 23 men across various places.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefed by Varanasi's police commissioner, divisional commissioner and district magistrate on the tarmac at Varanasi airport about the steps taken to apprehend the criminals. So far, 12 of the rapists have been arrested.
Last week the Supreme Court came down heavily on Uttar Pradesh, saying there was a complete breakdown of law and order in the state.
After the video of the woman getting divested of her burqa went viral, 'Shameful act' one X user posted.
'They are molesting an innocent girl', another X user stated.
'No words, they are not humans,' added another X user.
On X, the Muzaffarnagar police issued a video statement through its spokesperson stating, 'All 6 accused seen in the viral video have been arrested'.
While the police did not disclose the accused's names, they retweeted a Hindi newspaper report that gave the names of the six along with their photographs. They have been identified as Sartaj Iqbal, Shazad Zakir, Mohammed Umar, Arsh Arshad, Shoaib Irshad and Shami Ehsaan.
Later a video (external link) of the six men in the police station showed them limping, leading to speculation if they had been beaten up in custody.
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