Indian girl with male friend abducted and beaten by gang who filmed attack on mobile phone

Footage shows the girl being slapped as she tries to defend her injured friend

Footage shows the girl being slapped as she tries to defend her injured friend (YouTube)

A student and her friend have been abducted and beaten in rural India in a vicious assault reportedly sparked by a teenage boy’s jealousy.

Footage taken by one of the alleged attackers on a mobile phone was spread on WhatsApp, showing the attack lasting more than 10 minutes.

The female college student, who has not been identified, was with her friend on a motorbike at a market in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, when they were surrounded by the gang earlier this month.

This video contains scenes that viewers may find distressing

India Today reported that the six boys forced them to ride to a remote area before starting the attack.

Distressing footage shows the girl being slapped around the face repeatedly, dragged along the ground and verbally assaulted as she tries to protect her friend.

He is seen being badly beaten with a large tree branch as he crouches trying to protect his head, before being kicked and punched by the six men as he pleads with them to stop.

Footage shows the girl being slapped as she tries to defend her injured friend (YouTube)

“They abused and beat us repeatedly,” the girl told DNA India. “I begged them to leave us, but they continued to misbehave and called me names.”

After the gang eventually left, the couple was abandoned were able to ride back into the town.

The girl was initially too scared to tell her family but relatives went to police after seeing footage of the attack, NDTV reported.

Four suspects had been arrested by Tuesday evening and two were believed to still be at large.

Indian activists from the Social Unity Center of India (SUCI) shout slogans against sexual violence in Uttar Pradesh (AFP/Getty)

Local media reported that the attackers were from the same village as the female victim and one of the group believed himself to be in love with her, possibly sparking the assault.

Uttar Pradesh has become notorious for sexual and gender-based violence after a string of high-profile incidents in recent years.

In the village of Aithpura last year, a 22-year-old woman was found dead in a field after being raped, made to drink acid and strangled.

Her face had later been mutilated with acid and petrol, apparently in an attempt to hide her identity.

That attack took place about 60 miles from the village where two girls were reportedly gang-raped and hanged from a tree, although authorities later suggested they may have committed suicide.

India’s government has faced global calls to do more to prevent violence against women in the wake of the fatal gang rape of a woman travelling on a bus in Delhi in 2012, which ignited a wave of angry protests across the country.