Kolkata, Jun 7 (PTI) A young woman was forcibly detained for months and brutally assaulted allegedly by a man and his family members for refusing to work as a bar dancer in West Bengal’s Howrah district, police said on Saturday.

The 23-year-old woman, a resident of Sodepur in North 24 Parganas district, had come in contact with the man from Howrah’s Domjur on Facebook five months back. He had promised her a job if she came to his residence, a police officer said.

As she visited his Domjur residence to discuss the job, the youth, along with his mother, allegedly assaulted her after failing to lure her into the profession of a bar dancer and forced her to do domestic chores, the woman’s parents said in the police complaint lodged at Khardah police station.

Her mobile phone was also taken away.

The FIR was lodged after the woman managed to escape from the flat a few days ago. She returned home with bruises all over her body.

The woman was admitted to Sagar Dutta Medical College and Hospital in nearby Kamarhati, the officer said.

After Khardah police station forwarded the FIR to their Domjur counterparts, a police force went to the apartment of the accused but both mother and son were found to have fled their dwelling.

A manhunt has been launched to nab them and further investigation is underway, he added. PTI SUS ACD