Man-woman tied to tree in Meherpur tortured, video on Facebook

A housewife and a young man were tied to a tree in Meherpur on charges of having an extramarital affair. The incident took place in a village in Sadar upazila around 9am on Monday. A video of the torture has gone viral on Facebook.

The woman who was tortured is the wife of an expatriate. She has a four-year-old child. The accused young man is a resident of the same area and works as a grocer.

According to local sources, a group of people from the village caught them in the morning, accusing them of having an extramarital affair, tied their hands to a guava tree and beat them.

The five-minute and 21-second video that went viral on Facebook shows the two men tied to a tree being surrounded, slapped and beaten. At that time, they pleaded for their innocence and begged to be spared, but no one came forward; many were recording the scene on their mobile phones.

A local housewife said that the victim's child was hugging her mother during the beating.

The victim said, "The young man came to collect the money owed from the shop. At that time, local people dragged us out of our house. They slapped us on the face and neck and hit us on the head with sticks. The young men were rejoicing during the beating. Now I hear that the local elders will judge us."

The young man, who was the victim of the torture, is staying outside the area out of fear, said his cousin. He said, "The way the beating was carried out is comparable to medieval barbarity. It was planned to humiliate us socially and collect a fine. If there was rule of law, no one would have dared to do this."

Meherpur Sadar Police Station OC Humayun Kabir said, "The video has come to our attention. The incident is extremely barbaric and inhumane. Police were sent to the scene immediately after receiving the news. "The process of identifying and arresting those involved in this torture is underway. No concessions will be made."