The unidentified man, in his thirties, is believed to be homeless. He was confronted by a mob for loitering before the incident took place at Bulbulchandi-Dubapara village in Habibpur on Wednesday. His response didn’t satisfy them and he was tied to an electric pole and beaten.
West Bengal: The spate of atrocious lynchings continues as another man was beaten to death in Malda, West Bengal on the suspicion of being a child-lifter.
The unidentified man, in his thirties, is believed to be homeless. He was confronted by a mob for loitering before the incident took place at Bulbulchandi-Dubapara village in Habibpur on Wednesday. His response didn’t satisfy them and he was tied to an electric pole and beaten.
Three people have been arrested since. “Sources said a police team went to the spot after learning of the youth’s detention by local people, but by then the attackers had fled. The police took the injured youth to a health centre, from where he was referred to Malda Medical College and Hospital. He died on the way. Habibpur OC Biswajit Mondal said the victim was yet to be identified. “He seems to have been mentally challenged. Three people have been arrested. Raids are on to nab more, he said,” reported The Telegraph.
“Police sources said the accused — Basu Biswas, Choton Singha and Jiban Haldar — were arrested on the basis of a video of the incident shot by an unknown person. The video had gone viral on WhatsApp, police said,” reported The India Express.
A report by Hindustan Times stated that Subhajit Jana, who is officiating for the Habibpur block development officer, said steps would be taken to prevent further incidents of the kind in the area. “We are planning to organise an awareness camp aimed at discouraging rumours of child-lifting from tomorrow. Local villagers and clubs will participate,” he said, adding that not a single child has been kidnapped from the locality in the recent past. “I heard about the lynching, and it was ghastly, to say the least. I am going there,” said local CPI(M) MLA Khagen Murmu.”
Two men from Assam were lynched on a similar suspicion last week. Nilotpal Das (29) and Abhijeet Nath (30) were beaten to death in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district by a mob of villagers for allegedly kidnapping children. A mob lynched two Muslim men in Godda, Jharkhand for allegedly stealing cattle. Last year, eight men were lynched in a matter of nine days in Jharkhand.
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