Child-lift buzz: 4 women thrashed in Dhupguri

Jalpaiguri: Four women were thrashed by a

mob

on suspicion of child-lifting in a village in Jalpaiguri’s Dhupguri on Monday. Two of them were even stripped in public and then roughed up.

The assault took place at Daukimari village, some 43km from the district headquarters in Jalpaiguri.

The four had come to Daukimari to visit a microfinance office to withdraw money. Some villagers, not knowing who they were, labelled them child-lifters. Following this, a mob gathered and rained blows on the women.

After the villagers got hold of the women, they were taken into a club, where they were beaten up and two of them stripped. Had not police intervened in time, the mob would perhaps have lynched them.

However, no arrest had been made till evening.

“We tried to convince them and kept on telling them that we were not child-lifters, but they did not pay heed to our appeals. Another woman and I were also stripped and beaten up,” said one of the victims.

Dhupguri BDO Dipankar Roy went to the hospital and spoke to the victims. “We have received the complaint and have asked police to identify the persons involved in instigating the mob and ensure maximum punishment for them,” he said.

A few days ago, a mentally challenged tribal woman was ruthlessly beaten up in Dhupguri on the same suspicion. Police had booked BJP district vice-president Taramoni Roy for instigating the mob against her.

Monday’s violence is the latest in a string of mob assaults across the country. Cops had recently made announcements asking people to be wary of rumours of ch-ild-lifting. But the attack pr-oved people are in no mood to listen to the administration.