Child-lifting rumours:Woman lynched by mob in MP, 12 held

THE POLICE SAID THERE WERE CLAIMS SHE WAS MENTALLY CHALLENGED AND THE MOB TOOK HER AS A CHILDLIFTER

An unidentified woman aged between 25 and 30 years and claimed to be “mentally challenged” was lynched by a mob in Madhya Pradesh’s Singrauli district following rumours fuelled over WhatsApp that she was a child-lifter, police said Monday.

Police have arrested 12 people and are interrogating them.

The body was found in a jungle Thursday and the Morwa police was informed the following day.

The woman is yet to be identified, said Riyaz Iqbal, superintendent of police, Singrauli.

Police said there were claims that she was “mentally challenged” and was often seen roaming on the streets in nearby areas.

Police quoted some eyewitnesses who said that a mob in Bhosh village was seen chasing her Thursday night amid shouts that she was a child-lifter.

Heera Singh Gond of Katarihar village allegedly hit her with an axe while Gopal Singh, Durga Singh and Devlal Singh, all residents of Bhosh, attacked her with lathis and sticks, police said, while naming the accused.

As the woman ran for her life, the mob followed and surrounded her near a school where it began to attack her again, officers said.

A few others, whom police identified as Deepnarayan Singh, Raghuvir Singh, Ram Singh, Ramashankar Sahu, Gambhir Singh, Ramcharan Singh, Lakhpati Singh, Karan Singh, Jagshah Agaria and Rambali Singh, joined the group of assailants in physically attacking her, police said.

Later, they dragged her body and threw it in a nullah in the jungle near Barhgarh village.

The SP said the accused have confessed to the crime.

All the 12 accused have been booked under IPC sections 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon) and 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), police said.

Rumours about alleged childlifters and shared extensively over WhatsApp have been rife in Singrauli for several months.