Indian police have arrested four men accused of forcing two women to parade naked through crowds in Manipur, a state in northeast India where at least 150 people have been killed by communal violence for months.

It was reported on Friday that a group of outraged women set fire to the houses of the suspects, who were identified from a video of the incident, which took place in early May, which went viral on social media on Wednesday, sparking outrage across the country.

The state government, led by the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, imposed an internet freeze, noting that police took action as soon as the images emerged on social media, more than two months after the incident.

The video shows two naked women, surrounded by dozens of men, some armed with sticks, being mocked and harassed by a mob in a rural area of ​​Thoubal district.

The role of the police has been questioned, after both a complaint was filed days after the event and one of the victims’ husbands alleged that members of the security forces had turned the women over to the mafia, the Indian Express newspaper reported.

The event came a day after a wave of communal violence broke out, which has left nearly 150 dead, between the majority Meitei community in Manipur and the Kuki tribe, a minority in the state but more powerful in the mountainous regions.

Violence broke out in May following a protest march against the possibility of the predominantly Hindu Meitei community being granted the more favorable “registered tribe” status, which would guarantee them guaranteed public employment quotas and university admissions; and what the kuki oppose.

This hypothesis revived the old fears of the Kuki tribe, generally Christian, that the Meitei might acquire land in areas currently set aside for them and other tribal groups.

More than 50,000 people have been displaced by the violence, and authorities’ efforts to mediate the conflict have so far failed to put an end to the clashes.

India tends to be a conservative and patriarchal country, but in the meitei community women play a bigger role than elsewhere and have a history of fighting for their rights.