Women thrashed by mob on child lifting suspicion

Five women were brutally assaulted by a mob over child lifting suspicion in Uttar Pradesh's Shamli district, about 500 kilometres from here.

According to the police sources here, the women, who hailed from Surat in Gujarat and made two ends meet by selling rope used in weaving 'charpoy' (cot), presently lived in a slum near Kairana in the district.

The victims were returning home on Monday evening after selling their produce when a mob surrounded them near Ghosa Chungi area and accused them of being members of child lifting gang.

The mob, which also consisted of women, thrashed the victims with sandals and sticks wounding them seriously. They were rescued by a police team, which reached there on getting the information, sources said.

A video, that went viral on the social networking sites, showed the mob thrashing the victims.

''The women belong to banjara tribe (a nomadic tribe)....they are innocent,'' a senior police official said in Shamli.

The official said that they were trying to identify the people, who were part of the mob. ''We will take stern action against all those involved,'' he added.

Incidents of mob lynchings over child lifting suspicion have poured in from different parts of the state in the past few days. At least two youths were lynched to death by the frenzied mobs in the state.

A majority of incidents were reported from western UP districts of Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Shamli and Baghpat.

The state government is contemplating to make stringent laws to combat mob lynching after the State Law Commission recommended strict punishment, including life imprisonment in case of death of the victim.