Ranchi: A 50-year-old woman was allegedly attacked by a mob in Edalhatu under Bariatu police station limits on Thursday morning on suspicion of being a child-lifter, police said.The officer in-charge (OC) of the Bariatu police station, Manoj Kumar, said, “Sheila Kujur, a domestic help employed in Karamtoli area of the city, was travelling to her workplace in an autorickshaw around 9 am on Thursday when a five-year-old boy also boarded the vehicle. The child had accompanied his father to a neighbourhood shop. But the father failed to find his son when he turned around. He panicked and began searching for the boy, prompting locals to join the effort. Some eyewitnesses noticed the child sitting in the autorickshaw and stopped it. They allegedly attacked the woman, mistaking her to be a child-lifter. She fortunately escaped.”
“We rescued the woman and brought both parties to the police station. The woman stated that she did not take the child, but the public mistook her for a child lifter. Both parties were yet to lodge any formal complaint with the police til the filing of the report. However, we are trying to ascertain the facts,” the OC added.Mob attacks on suspicion of child lifting are on the rise across the state. A 40-year-old man was allegedly thrashed by a mob in Chatra district on Sunday, leading to his death at Ranchi’s Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences the next day. Four men were arrested in the case on Tuesday.Besides Chatra, Bokaro and East Singhbhum districts, too, witnessed a spurt in such mob attacks over suspicion of child lifting. Over half a dozen such attacks came to light in Bokaro and East Singhbhum since last week.
