The woman grabbed her mother-in-law's hair and thrashed her in Haryana's Mahendragarh.
On video, a woman grabs her 80-year-old mother-in-law by hair, abuses and thrashes her badly in Haryana's Mahendragarh district, barely 120 kilometres from national capital Delhi. The woman has been arrested after the shameful act, filmed by a neighbour on phone, was widely shared on WhatsApp and social media.
In the video, the elderly woman, Chand Bai, visibly in pain, seems defenseless in front of her daughter-in-law Kanta Bai's continuous attacks.
The video caused uproar online and also caught Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar's attention.
"This is deplorable and condemnable, such behavior should not be tolerated in civilised society. A case has been registered and the accused has been arrested," he said on Twitter.
The neighbour, a Delhi University student who shot the incident on phone, said that she was shocked to see the daughter-in-law's behaviour.
"The woman was abusing and beating her old mother-in-law from quite some time. I did not know what to do. Then I decided to shoot it. I wasn't afraid as what she did was wrong," the student told news agency ANI.
After the incident was widely condemned online, the police reached the family's home in Niwaz Nagar village and took her for a medical check-up.
The daughter-in-law, who ran away from the village, was later arrested.
"She (accused) could not take care of the old woman and considered her to be a burden. That is why she assaulted her," police officer Chander Mohan was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Chand Bai's husband was with the Border Security Force. She gets pension from the government after her husband's death, the police said.
Kanta Devi was arrested on Saturday morning and has been charged for criminal intimidation and voluntarily causing hurt.
With Inputs From ANI, PTI