A 35-year-old Dalit woman’s nose was allegedly slashed and her husband was beaten up by two members of an upper caste family at Renvjha village in Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh in India.

Narendra Singh, 32, and his father Sahab Singh beat up the woman’s husband on Monday when he refused to go to their house and do some work, inspector R.S. Bagri of Surkhi police station said, reports the Press Trust of India.

When the woman was taking her husband to a hospital, Narendra and Sahab attacked her too, the inspector said.

Madhya Pradesh Women’s Commission (MPWC) chairperson Lata Wankhede said the woman’s nose was cut.

Bagri said that the woman had sustained an injury to the nose, and the police were waiting for the medical report.

The incident came to light on Thursday when the woman went to a camp organised by the MPWC in the area to hear complaints of violation of women’s rights, and narrated her ordeal to Wankhede.

The MPWC chief told reporters that the accused, who wanted to make the woman and her husband ‘bonded labourers’, had cut the woman’s nose.

She had directed the police to arrest the accused and take strict action in the case, Wankhede said.

Bagri said the police have registered a case and were looking for the accused who were absconding.

‘The woman is being treated at a hospital. We are waiting for the doctor’s report about the injury to her nose. If the report confirms serious injury to nose and internal injuries, harsher sections will be slapped against the accused,’ the inspector said.