North Indian woman thrashed in Tamil Nadu on suspicion of being child lifter
The woman was seen having biscuits in her hand, which prompted villagers to assume her to be a child lifter.
A young woman was thrashed by locals near Madurai on Thursday on suspicion of being a child lifter before police rescued her.
The woman, who appeared to be from north India, was beaten up by residents of Pathinettankudi near Melur after they tied her hands with a rope, police said.
On receiving information, police rushed to the spot, rescued the woman and admitted her to hospital.
The attack comes in the backdrop of a spate of similar incidents in several parts of India wherein people were either beaten up or lynched on suspicion of being child abductors, prompting the government to ask social media operators such as WhatsApp to clamp down on rumours.
On July 1, two migrant labourers were beaten up by locals in Chennai on suspicion that they were trying to abduct a child.
A Hindi-speaking man was clubbed to death on April 28 by a group of villagers in Vellore district, who suspected him to be a child trafficker.
In Thursday’s incident, the woman was seen having biscuits in her hand, which prompted villagers to assume her to be a child lifter.
Police said they could not get any information from the woman, who suffered some injuries, as she was not speaking.
Another woman who had come with the victim managed to escape. Locals said there were rumours that women from north India had come to the area to kidnap children.