Viral video of woman beating children: FIR registered against parents

The woman and her husband under sections 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act

MUMBAI: A week after a two-year-old video shot by a man showing his wife thrashing their children with a belt went viral on social media, the Vanrai police have registered an FIR against the Goregaon couple. The police booked the father of the children because he merely captured the incident on his mobile and posted it on social media instead of stopping his wife from hitting their children.

Viral video of woman beating children: FIR registered against parents

The FIR was registered after Justice Shahrukh Kathawalla, a retired judge of the Bombay high court, on July 2 urged the authorities to take action against the couple. Kathawalla, who wrote to the National Human Rights Commission of India, the Bombay high court, the Mumbai police and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, had insisted that a criminal case should be registered against the couple for abusing their children, aged 13 and nine.

Based on the complaint, the Vanrai police have booked the woman and her husband under sections 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act.

“The authorities should act in such matters. Society should not feel that people who assaulted their children can get away scot-free,” said Kathawalla.

The video, shot in 2022, showed the mother hitting the children with a belt at their residence in Nirlon Parsi Panchayat Complex, Goregaon East, even as they screamed for help and begged her to stop.

Rampyare Rajbhar, senior police inspector at the Vanrai police station, said that the statements of both children were recorded. They allegedly confirmed that their mother had assaulted them in December 2022, but she had stopped doing it after being counselled by people. The children said their mother now scolds them but does not hit them, according to the police.

“The video was shot by the father of the children in 2022 and sent to his friends to show how his wife behaved in a violent manner with him and their children,” said Rajbhar. He added that the kids said they were beaten up after fights between the parents, which have stopped lately.