Police in India arrested five cow vigilantes who beat two men and a woman in a viral video that sparked outrage on social media after the victims of the attack were arrested days before the perpetrators.

Five men were arrested in Seoni, Madhya Pradesh for assaulting two men and a woman for allegedly transporting beef, police said. The violent attack was captured in a viral video that shows a man being beaten with a stick before he’s forced to hit a woman with a shoe while his attackers tell him to shout, “Hail (the Hindu deity) Lord Rama.”

A day after on all the talk on inclusiveness by @PMOIndia this is what happens in Seoni, MP. Muslim man being beaten on suspect of carrying beef and then asked 2 thrash his wife & say Jai Shree Ram. Hoping @DGP_MP will take some action. Truly sad. pic.twitter.com/NGZakOl7r3 — Rachna Dhingra (@RachnaDhingra) May 24, 2019

The three victims were in an autorickshaw when they were stopped by the attackers, who accused them of transporting beef on May 22.

However, it was the victims who were arrested by police, with officers telling the Press Trust of India it was because the “possession, transportation or sale of beef is illegal in Madhya Pradesh.” Cow slaughter is outlawed in many states in India because the bovines are sacred to the country’s Hindu majority.

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The victims appeared in court and were sent to jail, a police official told the Hindu.

The video of the attack was widely shared on social media, where one of the victim’s sisters saw it and lodged a police complaint against the attackers. The men were then arrested on May 24. They are reportedly members of right-wing Hindu group Sri Ram Sena, which has carried out acts of ‘moral policing’.

The accused have been remanded in custody until June 6.

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