Man, cousin sisters tied to tree and thrashed in Madhya Pradesh; 5 held
Dhar: A man and his two cousin sisters were tied to a tree and severely beaten for several hours by around nine persons in Madhya Pradesh's Dhar district after he allegedly eloped with a married woman, police said Thursday.
The two sisters, including a minor, were also allegedly molested by the accused, including husband of the married woman, over suspicion that they helped their cousin in running away with the woman, they said.
Five persons have been arrested in connection with the incident, a video of which has gone viral on social media, they said. In the video, a group of persons were purportedly seen thrashing the three victims while some people stood there as mute spectators.
The married woman's husband on Tuesday asked the three victims to come to his house in Arjun Colony here on the pretext of settling the issues they had with each other, Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Mule told PTI.
But when the three cousins came to meet him, he and his family members allegedly tied them to a tree and thrashed them, the official said.
The accused also allegedly molested the two sisters, he said. The victims later filed a complaint with the police.
"We have arrested five persons, including the married woman's husband, and efforts are on to nab the others involved in the offence," Mule said.
The accused have been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act, he added.
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5.8 magnitude quake hits Afghanistan killing 8
Kabul (AP): An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.8 rattled parts of northern and eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan late Friday, killing at least eight people in Afghanistan, authorities said.
The region is highly seismically active, and quakes have caused thousands of deaths in recent years. Friday's earthquake had an epicentre in the Hindu Kush mountain range, about 150 kilometres (90 miles) east of the Afghan city of Kunduz, according to the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center and the US Geological Survey.
Hafizullah Basharat, a spokesman for the Kabul governor, said eight people were killed and a child was injured when a house collapsed on the outskirts of the capital. He said all were members of the same family.
Kabul is roughly 290 kilometres (180 miles) southwest of the epicentre. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries from areas closer to the epicentre. The area is remote, and it can often take several hours before local authorities can relay information back to Kabul.
With the epicentre at a depth of over 180 kilometers, the quake jolted a wide swath of Afghanistan and Pakistan. In Pakistan, it was felt in the cities and towns of Islamabad, Peshawar, Chitral, Swat and Shangla, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries in Pakistan.
Afghanistan's Health Ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said Kabul and provincial health authorities had been put on alert.
Last August, a 6.0 earthquake that struck a remote, mountainous part of eastern Afghanistan killed more than 2,200 people, levelling villages and trapping people under rubble. Most casualties were in Kunar province, where people typically live in wood and mud-brick houses along steep valleys.
In November, a 6.3 earthquake struck Samangan province in northern Afghanistan, killing at last 27 people and injuring more than 950. It also damaged historical sites, including Afghanistan's famed Blue Mosque in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif, and the Bagh-e-Jahan Nama Palace in Khulm.
On Oct 7, 2023, a 6.3 quake followed by strong aftershocks in western Afghanistan killed thousands of people.
Impoverished Afghanistan often faces difficulty in responding to natural disasters, especially in remote regions. Many homes in rural and outlying areas are made from mud bricks and wood, with many poorly built.
M5.9 earthquake strikes Afghanistan-Tajikistan border region in Badakhshan. Widely reported at 08:42 pm, depth 171 km. No immediate casualty or damage reports from Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, India or nearby areas. #sismo pic.twitter.com/Lhddad9Uwr
— GeoTechWar (@geotechwar) April 3, 2026
