INDORE: Three children, aged 6, 9, and 11, were mercilessly beaten by two men on camera and forced to chant religious slogans in Ratlam, triggering tension in town.
Hundreds of protesters gathered at Manak Chowk police station in Ratlam district headquarters, 140km from Indore, after a deeply disturbing video of the assault was circulated on social media on Thursday night.
The video, filmed near Amrit Sagar Lake at an under-construction amusement park, shows a man hitting the children with a slipper while another man records the brutality.
The man is heard abusing the boys, accusing them of trying to smoke cigarettes, and forcing them to chant religious slogans. He also demands their parents' contact numbers while threatening them with further violence.
Anger spread rapidly in town and protesters marched to the police station. As the crowd grew, senior officers - including ASP Rakesh Khakha, CSP Satyendra Ghanghoria, SDOP Kishore Patanwala, and DSP Ajay Sarwan - rushed to the spot. Reinforcements were deployed.
Police managed to defuse tension by assuring the protesters that swift action would be taken. ASP Khakha said the video appears to be at least a month old. An FIR has been registered against two unidentified individuals.
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