Violence and clashes between the police and local residents ensued in West Bengal’s Howrah on Thursday, 21 February, after a woman was attacked over false rumours of child abduction.
At about 1 am on Thursday morning, a woman was accosted and attacked by local residents in Howrah’s Tikiapara on suspicion of child-lifting.
According to the police, the lady was visiting a relative’s house in the area and was asking around for directions since she was confused. Rumours regarding child-lifting were rife in the area for some time and the locals, who began suspecting her because she was not from the area, soon started assaulting her.
After learning of the incident, the police reached the spot to rescue the woman. A livid crowd then got into an altercation with the police force, eventually pelting them with stones. Some police cars were also vandalised.
The police had to use tear gas to bring the situation under control. Teams from five police stations and the combat force were deployed at the spot.
“As you know, there have been rumours of child-lifting going around in certain parts of not only the Howrah Commissionerate but also other districts. The lady has registered a complaint and we are investigating the matter. The law will take its own course”, said DC Howrah South, VSR Ananthnag.
An emergency meeting was held by top officials of the Howrah police with OCs of various police stations. Police sources say that the administration will take measures to spread awareness amongst people to not pay heed to child-lifting rumours that have been doing the rounds in Bengal over the last few months.
This comes hardly a week after the police rescued a salesman from Maheshtala in the South 24 Parganas district, who was being beaten up by a mob on the suspicion of being a child-lifter. The police also arrested two persons for spreading rumours regarding the man being a child-lifter, reported The Times of India.
In July last year, four women were allegedly assaulted and two of them disrobed by a mob in the state’s Jalpaiguri district on suspicion of being child-lifters. The four women, aged between 20 and 50 years, were not locals and the mob had assaulted them after the women gave unsatisfactory answers to their questions.
(With inputs from The Times of India)
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