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45-year-old man thrashed on suspicion of being child lifter in Pilibhit

PILIBHIT: A day after four youths were booked for allegedly spreading rumours of child-lifters kidnapping two schoolchildren, as many as 11 people, including an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) zila vistarak, were on Tuesday booked for allegedly assaulting a 45-year-old man suspecting him to be a child-lifter in Naokurh village under Pilibhit kotwali.




Upon receiving information, police rushed to the spot and rescued the victim, and shifted him to the district hospital.

Kotwali SHO Shri Kant Dwivedi said the accused were identified as Vishwendra Sharma, ABVP zila vistarak in Pilibhit and a resident of Dandia Nai in Firozabaddistrict; Om Prakash, Indrajeet, Rambabu Lodhi, Daanveer, Surendra Kumar, Ramadhar, Avdhesh Lodhi and Jhankar Singh, all residents of Naokoorh village; and Vishal Sharma of Nai Basti and Vishesh Sharma of Chhoti market locality in Pilibhit. The accused were booked under sections 147 (rioting), 342 (wrongful confinement), 323 (intentionally causing hurt) and 505 (1) (c) (inciting any class or community of persons to commit any offence against any other class or community) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), said the SHO.

According to the victim, Mohammad Naseer of Guladia village under Neuria police station, he was on his way to home via Naokoorh village on foot. “Around 11pm, when I asked for a bidi (smoking stick) from a villager sitting on the roadside, he abused me and started screaming ‘bachcha chor-bachcha chor’ (child lifter). Soon, a mob gathered and they started thrashing me. They also called police to hand me over to them.”

“Police rescued me and shifted to the district hospital. They inquired me about my identity. Had police not reached the spot in time, I would have been killed by the mob,” said the victim.

Asked why the accused were not nabbed, Pilibhit city circle officer Dharm Singh Marchhal said, “The sections applied to the FIR have a provision of imprisonment of fewer than seven years.”

Replying to a question why the accused were not booked under the National Security Act, the CO said, “Police are investigating the matter. Let the truth come out, and then, appropriate sections can be added to the FIR based on the investigation report.”

Terming the incidents of mob lynching over the rumour of child-lifting a “serious” issue, district magistrate Vaibhav Shrivastav said he would take stringent action in the matter.

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