Hyderabad: A 25-year-old woman who worked at a bar as a dancer in Hyderabad, was stripped and thrashed by a man and fellow dancers simply because she refused to extend sexual favours to customers.

Panjagutta police have arrested the four women who thrashed the victim. However, the man is still at large and efforts are on to arrest him.

News agency ANI reported that police acted on a complaint from the woman who said that she was harassed to entertain customers sexually. She alleged that when she refused to do so, her colleagues and a man stripped her and thrashed her mercilessly.

The woman told police that she had joined the bar only a few months ago. She used to work as a junior artist in the local film industry but joined the bar in January due to financial constraints, the police said.

News 18 reported that police sources said that the victim was employed illegally as a dancer at Lisbon Restrobar, a prominent bar in the city.

"Recently, the management of the bar started harassing her to visit customers and perform sexual activities with them," police in Panjagutta said.

The accused have been booked under Sections 254 (Assault on woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 509 (act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) read with 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. They have been sent to judicial remand.

Mahender Reddy, Director General of Police (DGP) Telangana has sought a detailed report from the Circle Officer, Panjagutta regarding the incident.