WB: 4 women beaten, stripped in Jalpaiguri on suspicion of being child lifters

Kolkata, July 24: Four women were allegedly beaten up and stripped two of them in Jalpaiguri district of northern West Bengal on Monday on the suspicion that they were child lifters.

The incident happened when the women had gone to a market in Dawkimari village in Dhupguri block when they were attacked.

Two of the women had gone to the office of a microfinance company, while one was on her way to meet a relative and another was going door-to-door to sell clothes.

After some people created panic that the women were child lifters, a mob gathered at the market and began beating them up. On hearing the news police rushed to the spot and resorted to lathi charge. Police rescued the women and escorted them to their homes.

Meanwhile, no arrests have been made yet so far.

This is the fourth such incident just this month in Jalpaiguri district, the police said.

Police had registered a case suo-motu against a BJP leader, Taramani Roy, vice president of the party's Mahila Morcha, Jalpaiguri district committee for allegedly leading the mob which attacked the woman.

A spate of mob lynchings has claimed over 20 lives in Maharashtra, Tripura, Assam, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka since March.