By Ravik Bhattacharya , Joyprakash Das
When 75-year-old Bhagabati Mondal first saw her grandson Prasen (26) tied to a tree close to the local primary health centre at Polenite under the Electronic Complex police station in Bidhannagar, she hardly recognised him. Bloodied and bruised, he was slumped over.
Around him stood four local residents, allegedly still beating him up. “I begged them to stop and spare him. They did not and continued to whip him with a tree branch. I rushed to call neighbours. When I returned, he was dead,” she says.
Prasen was one of the victims of a spate of recent mob lynchings in Bengal – all occurring after rumours of possible child-napping (bachha chor), or – as in Prasen’s case – phone snatching (mobile chor). Four people have been killed and 10 wounded in 13 such incidents in the state in a fortnight since June 19 – prompting the opposition to question the law and order in the state under the Trinamool Congress government.
The state government has responded by launching awareness campaigns to curb such incidents. Law enforcement agencies have launched social media drives and are distributing pamphlets in several districts.
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here.
