In Coimbatore, police has arrested the HR manager of a spinning mill and the warden of its ladies hostel on charges of assaulting a woman employee, a native of Jharkhand.

As per media reports, the action was taken after the video of the assault was widely shared on social media. Mill’s HR manager V. Muthaiah and warden R. Latha have been arrested.

A report of the leading English daily, The Hindu, said that according to the police, a group of women from Jharkhand came to the mill at Udayampalayam, near Coimbatore, two weeks ago. The mill management told the police that the women remained in the hostel and did not report for work for a week.

When Latha questioned the women about it, one of the women allegedly pushed her. This led to a quarrel and the HR manager beat the woman with a stick, the video of which went viral, the police said. The warden was seen pulling the hair of the woman.

Thangadurai, Deputy Director of Industrial Safety and Health, Thudiyalur, lodged a complaint with the police.

The official sources said the mill employed nearly 150 workers. A group of women from Jharkhand had worked at the mill earlier and re-joined a month ago. Following the incident about 10 days ago, nearly 20 workers of the group had left the hostel, which is located opposite the mill.

Police investigated the incident and arrested Muthaiah and Latha for offences under Sections 294 (b) (obscene acts and songs), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 506 (1) (criminal intimidation) of the IPC and Section 4 (penalty for harassment of women) of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act.