Police booked 20 people on Friday for allegedly assaulting a class 10 student after sharing a video clip showing two of the suspects being beaten by a group of men on social media. Police said the victim shared the clip on different social media platforms and made fun of the suspects, after which they threatened him to delete the post, but he refused.

Police said Mohit Khan (18), a resident of Sakatpur in Badshahpur region, posted a video of the assault on social media on Tuesday. After repeated threats from the suspects he did not remove it, after which they intercepted his path on Thursday and brutally assaulted him, police said.

Khan said two of the suspects often upload their photos exercising at a gym and share videos showing off their muscles. “Someone sent me a video where two of them were seen being beaten and they were begging the group of men to leave them. They often teased and threatened the boys in the village, so I shared the clip on my social media accounts to poke fun at them,” he said.

Khan further said that suspects called him within the hour and asked him to take it down, but he refused. “Within an hour, one of the suspects called me and asked for my location which I shared. Within 15 minutes, the suspects, accompanied by 20 to 30 young men, reached the scene and intercepted me. I was with my two friends at the time,” he said.

Mohit studies in Nuh and lives with his grandparents and uncle. He had visited his parents on Tuesday for four days, police said.

The suspects assaulted him for more than half an hour, police said, adding that one of them also recorded a video and threatened to upload it to social media in revenge and asked to plead and ask for forgiveness.

Mustafa Khan (40), Mohit’s father who runs a welding workshop in Badshahpur, said he received a call from a friend on Thursday afternoon saying his son had been injured and was bleeding heavily. “I went there and took Mohit to the hospital. My son suffered multiple injuries and broken bones. The suspects assaulted him with iron bars, sticks and bricks, and carried weapons,” he said.

Badshahpur police station officer Dinkar said the victim was being treated at a private hospital in Sector 56. “We have registered a case against the suspects. They have been identified and we are carrying out raids to arrest them,” he said, adding that they have recovered video of the incident.

A case under sections 148 (riots), 149 (unlawful assembly), 323 (assault), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Weapons Act was filed at Badshahpur Police Station on Friday.