Mobocracy Continues: Mentally Ill Woman in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri Thrashed on Child-Lifting Suspicion

Kolkata, July 17: In yet another instance of mob violence, a mentally ill woman in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri was thrashed on child-lifting suspicion. The victim sustained serious injuries and is currently admitted at the district hospital.

The video of the assault went viral on social media which compelled the Jalpaiguri police to take suo moto action. A complaint has been registered against unidentified individuals. Investigation is underway, said the station house officer.

The fresh case of mob violence on child-lifting suspicion was reported by news agency ANI shortly after the Supreme Court reprimanded the state governments and the Centre for failing to crackdown on "mobocracy".

"Citizens cannot take law into their hands and cannot become law unto themselves," said the bench led by Chief Justice of India Deepak Misra.

"Horrendous acts of mobocracy cannot be allowed to become a new norm and has to be curbed with iron hands," the court further added.

The apex court asked the central government to enact a new legislation which "effectively deals" with incidents of mob violence. At present, the limited provisions of Indian Penal Code hinders the framing of charge sheet against all members of the mob.

The court's observation also came in the backdrop of the lynching of a 32-year-old Hyderabad techie, who was killed by a mob in Karnataka's Bidar on child-lifting rumour.

The deceased was identified as Mohammed Azam Ahmed, a software engineer working for Google. His three aides - Qatari national Salham Eidal Kubaisi and Noor Mohammed and Mohammed Salman from Barkas in Hyderabad - survived the assault with serious injuries.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 17, 2018 04:53 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).