A video has emerged purportedly showing a man tied upside down from a tree and beaten by a mob, a day after the Jharkhand Assembly passed the Prevention of Mob Violence and Mob Lynching Bill, 2021.

The video that went viral on Wednesday evening had an 18-year-old youth, identified as Khustar Ansari, being beaten after he was tied upside down from a tree and was tonsured by relatives of a girl with whom he was purportedly in a relationship. The victim is a resident of Satbarwa under Lesliganj police station area of Palamu district, nearly 165km from Ranchi.

Both the youth and the girl belong to the same community.

“I have directed the officer-in-charge of Lesliganj police station to probe into the issue and take suitable action. However, till Wednesday neither side had lodged any formal complaint in the police station,” said Palamu SP Chandan Kumar Sinha.

Lesliganj police station official Gautam Kumar Rai said that they identified the victim during the course of investigation on the basis of the viral video.

“After locating the victim youth who had been beaten, we reached his house on Thursday. We came to know that the incident had taken place six days back in Karma village, where the girl stays. But the youth had hesitated to lodge any complaint. He was in love with the minor girl and was caught at the girl’s house by family members who thrashed him and tonsured his head. Fortunately, the youth had not sustained any grievous injury except to his foot. We will take action against the named accused soon,” said Rai.

After requests from the police, the youth lodged an FIR against five persons at Lesliganj police station on Thursday.