Story By: Jonathan Macias, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

A Mexican indigenous woman has reportedly been arrested and locked in a prison by cops after she went to the police station to ask if they had detained her husband.

The incident – which has been widely discussed on social media -happened in the town of San Juan Mazatlan in the state of Oaxaca in south-western Mexico.

According to local media, the woman called Judith went to the town’s police station to ask about her husband who had been arrested more than 48 hours earlier.

Reports said that the woman and her two children met a police official who not only did not offer any information about her partner but instead put the woman and her children in a cell.

Reports said that the police officer allegedly asked for a fee of 15,000 MXN (605 GBP) to release the woman from the cell.

The mother and her children reportedly spent more than 24 hours in a cell and the father also spent 72 hours in police custody.

The whole family was released with the help of the Human Rights Ombudsman of Oaxaca (DDHPO) Bernardo Rodríguez, according to local media.

Once released they reported the case in the nearby town of Matias Romero where they reported the alleged abuse to the regional Attorney General’s office.

The family told local media that the father Juan was arrested because he had not paid a fine that he owned to the municipality over a fight.

The family lawyer Raul Rosales told local media: “The justice is clear, nobody should be judged twice for the same crime, and the case had been resolved before the local Prosecutor’s Office, however, Juan paid for the same crime twice”

The local authorities and the DDHPO have launched an investigation.

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