Police on Monday arrested a youth on charges of brutally assaulting two young women with iron rods and trying to rape them after branding them lesbians at a village in Murshidabad’s Sagardighi.

Sahebul Sheikh, one of the three accused, was produced before a Murshidabad court and sent in police custody for seven days on Monday.

“We arrested one of the three accused and search is on to arrest the rest,” said Bholanath Pandey, superintendent of Jangipur police district.

Sources said the two women were sleeping in a room in Authua village on October 25 night when three youths with iron rods and a shovel barged in and assaulted them for being lesbians. The duo could not shout as the youths allegedly threatened to expose their lesbian relationship.

“They beat up my grandaughter as they suspect her to be a lesbian. While her friend tried to stop them, they pounced upon her. They both managed to flee and took shelter in a field when the three youths attempted to rape them,” said the grandmother of one of the girls who lodged the police complaint three days after the incident. “Primarily out of fear they did not disclose what happened to them. I spotted bruises on her body and came to know about the cruelty.”

Both the girls are in their early 20s and are daughters of marginal farmers.

Sources in the village said there was a rumour that one of the women was a lesbian and her friend did not want to marry because of a relationship with her.

Police sources said in rural areas relationships between two women are still not taken well.

"It may be that there the actual motive was to rape the two innocent girls. In rural areas it becomes easier to exploit them if they are branded lesbians," said a police officer.