RANCHI: A 45-year-old man was allegedly beaten to death by a crowd in Chatra district of Jharkhand after being accused of being a child-lifter. The victim, who was assaulted on Sunday night, succumbed to severe injuries while undergoing treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi on Monday.
The incident reportedly occurred in Chiraiyatand and Kichto villages, where enraged residents attacked him over suspicion of being a child-lifter.
The man has been identified as Rambali Rajwar, a resident of Barwatoli under Ramgarh police station area of Ramgarh district.
According to the family members, the deceased was mentally challenged, and the family used to keep him at home.
A day before the incident, he left the house without informing anyone and went to Chiraiyatand, where people mistook him for a child-lifter and severely beat him up.
The matter came into light after a video of the man being beaten by the mob on suspicion of being a child-lifter in Chiraiyatand went viral on social media. In the video footage, the man can be clearly seen being beaten up by the violent mob.
Soon after the incident was reported, a team from Piparwar police station rescued him and took him to Bachra Regional Hospital, from where he was referred to RIMS for better treatment.
Officer in charge of Piparwar police station, Abhay Kumar, termed it a clear case of mob lynching and said that legal action will be taken against the accused persons after the reports are received from the RIMS administration.
“The victim died during treatment at RIMS in Ranchi on Monday. It is a clear case of mob lynching and the police have initiated a thorough probe into the matter. Police have intensified efforts to identify those involved in the assault,” said the officer in charge.
“An FIR in this regard will be lodged, and the situation will become clearer once the victim's autopsy report is received. So far, no arrest has been made in this case,” said the officer in-charge.
In a separate incident, six women from Uttar Pradesh were allegedly assaulted by a group of people in Jharkhand's Bokaro on Monday.
The incident took place near a bridge on the Damodar River in the Gandhi Nagar police station area, when locals spotted a group of women and suspected them of being child-lifters, leading to an assault on them.
According to police, the women had come from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh for medical treatment. Some locals mistakenly assumed them to be child-lifters, resulting in assault and mistreatment, they said.
The victims have been identified as Bindu Devi, Maya Devi, Mala Devi, Sanjana Devi, Nirjana Devi, and Kriti Kumari.
Meanwhile, as many as 300 social media accounts have been identified for allegedly spreading misleading information, and action is being taken.