Guj woman lynched in spate of mob attacks

Manas Dasgupta

Ahmedabad, June 26

A woman lost her life in Ahmedabad and nearly a dozen others were beaten up in different cities and towns across Gujarat on Tuesday as the social media played villain, spreading rumours of gangs abducting children.

A mob beat up a group of four women in Vadaj area of Ahmedabad suspecting them to be child lifters. The women travelling in an autorickshaw were pelted with stones and attacked with sticks killing one of them and grievously wounding others. The police intervened but the attackers managed to flee.

“The incident is really unfortunate. We urge people not to pay heed to such rumours or resort to violence. If they come across any such information of child lifting, they should instead contact police,” Dr KLN Rao, Special Commissioner, Ahmedabad, said.

The police have filed a case of murder and started investigations based on a video on the social media showing the women being beaten up. “We have initiated investigation and those seen in the video would be arrested,” Rao said.

Similar incidents were reported from Dwarka, Vadodara, Surat and some other parts of the state. In Surat, a woman was beaten up over rumours of child kidnapping. After she was handed over to the police, it came to light that the child she was carrying was her own.

“We have filed a complaint of attack and trying to find out the person who has made this audio clip viral and will be arrested,” Surat Police Commissioner Satish Sharma said.

In Vadodara, two women allegedly found sitting outside a school gate were thrashed and handed over to the police. It was later learnt that the suspected women were merely selling brooms.

In Dwarka, two persons were beaten up while in Tharad in Banaskantha district a deaf and dumb person was beaten up by the crowd, before being shifted to the hospital.

Mistaken identity 

• In Ahmedabad, four women in auto pelted with stones and attacked with sticks, killing one 
• In Surat, a woman beaten up and handed over to the police. It later came to light she was carrying her own child
• In Vadodara, two women outside a school gate thrashed. They were merely selling brooms