Madhya Pradesh: Mob kills woman over WhatsApp rumor of child-lifting

Some people spotted the woman roaming in the village at around 9.30 pm on July 19. They stopped her, suspecting her to be a child-lifter and hit her with lathis and axes.

IMAGE REPRESENTATIONAL

New Delhi: In yet another case of mob lynching, a woman was brutally killed by a suspicious crowd in Madhya Pradesh’s  Singrauli. The body of the woman was then thrown off in a jungle. So far, the police have been able to arrest 12 suspects in the case. The incident occurred after a WhatsApp rumour that suspected the victim to be a child-lifter started circulating in the area.

Madhya Pradesh: Police arrest 12 people for beating a woman to death on suspicion of child theft in Singrauli.

— ANI (@ANI) July 23, 2018

The woman, who appeared to be "mentally unstable", was killed by the mob in Bhosh village under the Morwa police station on July 19, Morwa Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) K S Dwivedi told PTI over the phone. The lynching took place amid rumours on WhatsApp that child-lifters were on the prowl in rural areas of the district, the officer said. The rumours were circulating for the last one month, Dwivedi said. The SDOP said some people spotted the woman roaming in the village at around 9.30 pm on July 19. They stopped her, suspecting her to be a child-lifter and hit her with lathis and axes, Dwivedi said. After killing the woman, the mob dumped her body in a drain in a forested area of Bhosh, some 90km from the district headquarters, he said. Some villagers spotted the body on July 20 and informed the police, he added. The police arrested 12 people and booked them for rioting and murder, among other charges under the IPC, the SDOP said. (With inputs from PTI)