Malda, June 15: Residents of English Bazar of Malda district of West Bengal has beaten a man on suspicion of child lifting. The incident occurred around 9 am on Friday. The incident happened just two days after mob in Habibpur lynched another man after he was mistaken as a child lifter.

The victim is reportedly in his mid-20s. He was also wearing a saree and was roaming around Aurobindo Park. The appearance of the victim led the mob to consider him as a child lifter. He was rushed to Malda Medical College and Hospital after the incident. According to doctors of the hospital, the man is not in the condition to be questioned by the police. It is still not clear who he is and where he stays.

Dulal Nandan Chaki, councillor of ward 25 of English Bazar municipality rescued the man from the mob and alerted the police. He told Hindustan Times, “The man was roaming in the Aurobindo Park area wearing a saree when he saw a boy standing near a temple. He was trying to hand something over to the child when the mob swept on him.” Nihar Ranjan Ghosh, local MLA and chairman of English Bazar municipality said that they had to take stern action against those spreading rumours of child lifting.

A senior officer from English Bazar police station told Hindustan Times that said the man was only trying to give fruit to the child. English Bazar is located around 25 km from Habibpur, where an unidentified person was lynched on Wednesday. Police arrested three youths in that case. An FIR has also been registered against around 150 ‘unknown’ persons, reported Hindustan Times.

In another incident on June 8, two Guwahati-based youths were lynched in Karbi Anglong district of Assam. The Assam police has arrested main accused,  Alphajoz Timung, who spread rumours of both the youths, Nilotpal Das and Abhijeet Nath being child abductors.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 15, 2018 07:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).