Woman shot in face ‘because she stopped dancing’ at wedding in India

'Shots will be fired,' man's voice is heard saying before a gunshot is heard in a video of the incident

A dancer has been left in hospital after she was shot in the face, apparently for pausing a performance during a wedding in India.

Footage of the incident shared on social media shows two women dancing on a stage. They pause as the music stops, reportedly due to a fault in the sound system.

A voice can be heard threatening: “Goli chal jayegi (Shots will be fired).” A few seconds later, a gunshot is fired and the woman is seen falling to the floor while holding her face. The other dancer rushes to her side.

The woman was reportedly struck in her jaw by the bullet. The incident took place during a wedding in the village of Chitrakoot, Uttar Pradesh state on 1 December.

According to local media, two people have been arrested one week after the shooting and police are still searching for one more suspect.

Chitrakoot police have been criticised on social media for taking action too slowly. India Today editor Shiv Aroor tweeted: “This belated action is thanks to media attention on the viral video.”

In 2016, a similar incident took place in northern India where a woman was shot in the chest by a stray bullet during a round of celebratory gunfire for a wedding.

The woman, who was reportedly performing at the wedding, died at the scene. Four other guests, including her 11-year-old daughter, were injured by the rogue bullets and hospitalised.

Celebratory gunfire is culturally accepted in some parts of the world, but is known to result in death and injury from stray bullets.