Four women beaten up by mob in jalpaiguri, cops say victims have criminal background

After the incident, which took place around 5 km away from Dhupguri, two of the victims had said that they were in the area to visit a micro-finance company, while two others said they were there to visit a relative. They claimed their names were Mamata Barman, Gita Das, Sarathi Sahani and Payal Das.

“They roam around in a gang. On July 23, they again came to the same place when they were surrounded by local people who kept asking them about their purpose of visit, they failed to give a satisfactory reply. Following which they were slapped, pushed back and beaten up. Police rescued them. Later, when we checked with other police stations, we found the victims were involved in theft cases,” said Inspector-in-Charge of Dhupguri police station Sanjay Dutta.

Police sources also said that they are likely to register a case of theft against the victims. However, there was no official response on the matter. This was not the first such incident in Dhupguri. On July 16, a mentally-challenged tribal woman in her mid-forties was beaten up at Barogharia gram panchayat area while she was roaming the street, with locals suspecting her of being a child-lifter.

Earlier, in August 2017, two persons suspected of being cow thieves had been lynched by villagers. “It is so unfortunate but we are doing regular campaigns to raise awareness against such mob violence. We have been requesting people to inform police whenever they find something or someone suspicious. Through leaflets, loudspeakers and cable TV, messages are being spread to prevent people from taking the law into their hands,” said Maity.