The West Bengal police have arrested two people for allegedly tying a woman to a pole and beating her up with sticks in a village in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas, officials said on Wednesday. The action came after a video of the incident surfaced on social media.
Police said that the video was shot on Sunday at Kochukhali, a remote village in the Sunderban. The victim, a woman with mental illnesses, was tied to a pole and beaten up with sticks by villagers on the suspicion that she was a child-lifter. She couldn’t be traced till reports last came in.
“We have arrested two persons on the basis of a first information report (FIR) after the video surfaced on social media,” said an officer of Gosaba police station.
“After spotting her roaming in the village for two to three days and often approaching children, a group of villagers intercepted her and started questioning her. She couldn’t reply to their questions, and it triggered suspicion among locals that she was a child-lifter,” the officer said.
“They tied her to a pole and started beating her. In the video a man could be seen beating her with a stick in front of village women,” said an officer.
{{/usCountry}}“They tied her to a pole and started beating her. In the video a man could be seen beating her with a stick in front of village women,” said an officer.
{{/usCountry}}She was finally released and was taken to a ferry ghat, from where she boarded a boat and left.
“We have arrested two persons. More people are being questioned. We have also alerted other police stations so that the woman could be traced,” said the officer.
A series of incidents have been reported from across the state over the past few weeks in which locals have assaulted strangers on the suspicion of being child lifters.
At least three such incidents were reported in June at Barasat, Khardaha and Ashok Nagar in North 24 Parganas. Earlier this month, there was a similar incident in which two beggars were beaten up in West Burdwan district on suspicion of being child-lifters. On July 13 a woman was beaten up by tea-estate workers in Jalpaguri for the same reason.