Two men were arrested after a brawl broke out when a scooter’s headlight was flashed in the face of a woman who had come to get mehndi applied on her hands at Navyug Market in Kotwali on Thursday night, police said on Saturday, adding that efforts are underway to arrest their third accomplice.
“On Thursday around 10.30pm, a couple in their late 30s from Kavi Nagar in Ghaziabad had come to get mehndi applied in Navyug Market in the Kotwali area,” said a police officer, requesting anonymity. He said that while the woman was seated at a mehndi shop, a man identified as Pintu, in his early 40s, parked his scooter nearby. Although the ignition was turned off, the scooter’s headlight remained on, flashing directly on the woman’s face.
Police said the woman requested the man to turn off the headlight, but he ignored her repeated requests. “When Pintu, sitting with a pillion rider, did not turn off the lights, her husband approached and forcefully switched it off. A verbal argument then broke out between them,” said Ritesh Tripathi, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Kotwali.
“When the issue escalated, Pintu and his friend called their third accomplice and entered into a physical altercation. Subsequently, someone in the crowd alerted the police, and a team from Kotwali police rushed to the spot and pacified the matter,” ACP Tripathi said.
The couple later returned home, but the incident resurfaced after a video of the brawl went viral on social media on Friday. “On Friday, the couple and the suspects were called to the police station and they compromised following discussion. However, taking cognisance of the viral video and the physical altercation, a case under Section 170 (arrest to prevent commission of cognizable offence) of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) was registered at Kotwali police station,” ACP Tripathi said.
Two suspects, Manoj Kumar alias Montu (41) and Pintu Kumar (40), both residents of Mori Gate in Ghaziabad, were arrested, while efforts are on to trace their third accomplice, police added.