Indian women strip and beat politician accused of rape

A group of angry women reportedly set upon an Indian politician accused of rape and doled out a bit of street justice. According to the New York Times' India Ink blog, Bikram Singh Brahma, a member of the Congress Party in the northeastern state of Assam, was attacked after his arrest for the sexual assault of a woman in Assam's Chirang district.

In a nation already inflamed over the brutal gang rape and death of a 23-year-old woman on a bus in New Delhi, Brahma was arrested on Thursday after he allegedly raped a woman Wednesday night while staying as a guest in her family's house.

G. P. Singh, the zonal inspector general of police, told the Times in a telephone interview that a case has been filed against Brahma under Indian Penal Code 376 by the woman's husband. I.P.C. 376 is the code that deals with cases of rape and sexual assault.

Brahma, who denies the charges against him, was attacked by local women who stripped and beat him, according to Sanjit Krishna, the area superintendent of police. Local television showed footage of Brahma struggling to make his way through a crowd of women as they tore off his shirt and hit him in the face and upper body.

Watch the video, embedded via Asia News International, below:

(Hat-tip: Salon)