West Bengal: Mob assaults ‘mentally ill’ man on suspicion of child-lifting in Malda

“After questioning the man, we found that he is a resident of Purnia and has been missing for the last few months. He was handed over to his family,” Ghosh told The Sunday Express.

Police said the 4-year-old girl’s mother raised the alarm after she found her daughter crying while the man was allegedly running away. Locals then caught him and started beating him up, they said.

Police said that some members of a local club rushed to the spot after being informed, and rescued the man. He was taken to Malda Medical College and Hospital (MMCH) and discharged later.

Last week, a man in his mid-thirties was lynched by a mob on suspicion of being a child-lifter at Bulbulchandi-Dubapara village in this district. The mob tied the man to an electric pole and assaulted him with sticks and iron rods. Three persons were arrested in the case.

Police sources said that child-lifting rumours have created so much panic among locals in Malda that whenever they see an outsider they become suspicious. “People from Jharkhand and Bihar come to Malda. It is not possible to stop people from entering the district,” said SP Ghosh.

The SP said that to stop such rumours, police have stepped up patrolling in the district, and are also taking help of local clubs and civic volunteers to tell people that such rumours are baseless. “In Malda, we have a 24×7 control room. We also have regular programmes during which we brief panchayat members about social issues. A few incidents have happened but it is also a fact that due to our corrective measures we have been able to stop many such incidents,” he added.

Ghosh said that rumours about child-lifting posed a big challenge to the police and society. “With advancement of technology, we have to be prepared for crime triggered by rumours. Connectivity with people at the ground-level is very important and to build that we are using civic volunteers and local clubs,” he said, adding that police would register cases against any person found to be spreading such rumours.

Man arrested for ‘trying to molest boy’

A mob in Malda assaulted a man for allegedly trying to molest a four-year-old minor boy on Friday. “We have detained him for questioning,” said a police officer.