They then tore his clothes off and made him walk
A police investigation is underway after an Indian man was paraded naked in the town of Khambhaliya in Gujarat.
The incident happened on the morning of December 1, 2020, and five brothers were allegedly responsible.
It was reported that the brothers beat and forced the victim to carry out the degrading task after he took to Facebook Live and accused them of bootlegging and illegal cricket betting.
Police identified the victim as Chandu Rudach. The 38-year-old was reportedly kidnapped by five brothers in a vehicle.
The five men had confronted the victim for accusing them of criminal activities. They beat Chandu and broke his mobile phone.
They then tore his clothes off and made him walk through a busy market street naked for 45 minutes as punishment.
A video of the brothers’ treatment circulated on social media. As Chandu was made to walk through the street, he noticed that someone was filming him.
As he shouts at the cameraperson, one brother slaps him.
The five brothers dropped the victim outside a police station and fled the scene.
Police officers had initially been informed that the Indian man had been abducted. After the accused fled, an investigation was launched and they were later arrested.
The suspects were identified as Bhala Bhojani, Mansinh, Kana, Pratap and Kirit.
Police spokesperson Hirendra Chaudhary said:
“An investigation revealed that the victim used to do Facebook live videos on regular basis.
“On Sunday, in a Facebook Live video (the man) made serious allegations against the five brothers and claimed that they were involved in criminal activities.”
Following their arrests, officers also made the accused walk through the market and called it a crime reconstruction.
The accused were booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology Act.
During the investigation, police discovered that Chandu had eight cases of gambling against him.
Stripping someone naked and forcing them to walk in public is degrading but not uncommon in some parts of India.
In one case, a man was beaten and stripped by a mob for harassing a young woman.
The man reportedly used to follow the woman wherever she went.
Some of the girl’s family members eventually caught him harassing her. They grabbed him and beat him before more of the girl’s family members arrived at the scene.
The mob tore off his clothes, leaving him completely naked apart from the shoes he had on.
He was beaten and later forced onto his motorbike and told to leave while still without any clothes on. The incident happened in the city of Amritsar, Punjab, India.