DUBAI: A video of a woman being beaten with hockey sticks by members of her family in the Indian city of Patiala has gone viral.
According to local reports, the incident took place on July 14 and saw 35-year-old victim Meena Kashyap allegedly being beaten by her brother-in-law and his friends over a dowry demand and allegedly for giving birth to a girl.
Footage of the incident has gone viral on Indian social media, with police taking two men into custody shortly after the event.
“We had complained about the (dowry) issue last year itself but nothing was done. They have been married for the past two years now and have a girl child,” the victim’s father told news outlet ANI.
According to the Hindustan Times, the victim said she met with the Punjab director general of police last week regarding alleged police inaction over her family’s initial complaint about her dowry.
She alleged that her brother-in-law Kamaljeet Singh attacked her with hockey sticks after her husband’s family came to know about the complaint in which she accused them of harassing her family for payment of the dowry.
Video of Indian woman beaten ‘over dowry, giving birth to a girl’ goes viral
Video of Indian woman beaten ‘over dowry, giving birth to a girl’ goes viral
Book by jailed Palestinian political leader Marwan Barghouti set for November release
- Prison letters, photographs and other documents to feature in the book
DUBAI: A new book by jailed Palestinian political leader Marwan Barghouti is set for publication in November, with Penguin confirmed as the publisher, The Guardian reported.
Titled “Unbroken: In Pursuit of Freedom for Palestine,” the book brings together a selection of Barghouti’s writings, including prison letters, interviews, public statements, conversations with public figures, and other documents and photographs.
It also features excerpts from his book “1,000 Days in Solitary Confinement,” which has so far only been published in Arabic.
Fadwa Barghouti, who wrote the introduction to the book, said she hoped it would allow the world to hear her husband “in his own voice, not through the noise surrounding him.”
She said in a statement: “This book finally makes that possible — and I hope it helps people understand who Marwan Barghouti truly is, and how he embodies the Palestinian struggle for freedom and dignity.”
Barghouti, who has spent over two decades in Israeli prison, is a member of the Fatah party. He has long advocated a two-state solution and is widely regarded as a powerful and unifying voice for Palestinians, with many supporters describing him as “Palestine’s Mandela.”
His detention has prompted repeated international advocacy efforts over the years.
In December 2025, an open letter calling for his release was signed by hundreds of celebrities, including Margaret Atwood, Philip Pullman, Zadie Smith and Annie Ernaux; actors Sir Ian McKellen, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, Josh O’Connor, Mark Ruffalo and Stephen Fry; and musicians Sting, Paul Simon, Brian Eno and Annie Lennox.
In November 2025, his family and several UK-based human rights advocates ran a campaign that included demonstrations and public art installations in Palestine and London.
Barghouti has been jailed by Israel since 2004, having been handed five life sentences plus 40 years for his role during the second Palestinian uprising. He has spent significant time in solitary confinement, has been denied visits by his family for three years, and has been denied access to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
His name was on a list of prisoners to be exchanged for Israeli captives in October 2025, but Israel declined to release him.
