LUCKNOW – A mentally challenged woman was tied up and badly beaten by a mob in Lucknow’s Indiranagar area after locals wrongly suspected her of trying to lift a child. A video of the assault went viral on social media, prompting police action, and three people have been arrested.
The incident took place early Tuesday morning near a poultry farm in the Sugamau shanty settlement, under the Indiranagar police station. According to police, the woman, identified as Lakshmi Rawat, a resident of Barabanki district, had wandered into the settlement and picked up a small child. Residents took this as an attempt at kidnapping and attacked her.
Eyewitness accounts and the viral video show her being bound with a rope and beaten with sticks, kicks and punches by a group of people. She was injured and taken first to Balrampur Hospital, and later to Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital after complaining of abdominal pain.
Her husband, Sandeep Rawat, filed a complaint with Indiranagar police. He said the couple had left home around 5 a.m. when several people, including those named in his complaint, assaulted her on the allegation that she was trying to kidnap a child. He rejected the claim and pointed to her mental condition.
Police have registered an FIR under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including attempt to murder, rioting, wrongful restraint, voluntarily causing hurt and intentional insult. Three accused have been arrested, named in police statements as Sunnyuddin (also spelt Sunnyudul), Jamaluddin and a third person. Efforts are on to identify others involved.
Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Amol Murkut confirmed that the woman is mentally challenged and that the assault was triggered by a false suspicion. Police have taken cognisance of the viral video and are examining it as part of the investigation.
The case has once again highlighted the danger of mob violence driven by rumours, especially when the targets are vulnerable people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=RtToJsBhYBatUrym&v=mOuYNSdhjHA&feature=youtu.be
