Jharkhand police have made further arrests in the Gumla lynching case where an elderly woman was killed by villagers who suspected her of being a child-lifter, highlighting the dangers of mob violence and misinformation.
Four more persons were arrested for allegedly beating an elderly woman to death in Jharkhand's Gumla district, suspecting her to be a "child lifter", a senior police officer said on Wednesday.
So far, eight people have been arrested in this case. Four were arrested on Monday, and another four accused were apprehended on Tuesday. All have been forwarded to judicial custody, he said.
The incident occurred on Sunday night in Lagaba village under the Bishunpur police station area, when the 55-year-old woman was beaten with sticks and stones by a group of villagers after a rumour spread that she was a child-lifter, police said.
Gumla Superintendent of Police (SP) Harish Bin Zaman said, "We have arrested as many as eight accused for lynching the woman after suspecting her to be a child-lifter."
All the accused have been booked under Section 103(2)/3(5) of the BNS, as it is a clear case of mob lynching, the SP said.
Arjun Kumar Yadav, officer in charge of Bishunpur, said, "The body of the victim has been kept in the mortuary at Sadar Hospital after the post-mortem examination. So far, nobody has come forward to claim the body of the victim. We will wait for the next 24 hours, after which it will be disposed of."
The victim was a mentally challenged woman who had been wandering in the area for the past few days. She was seen near the house of Tetra Oraon that night. As villagers approached her, she started fleeing and was soon caught and beaten by the mob, the OC said.