Ranchi: Mob assaults two tribal women, chops off their hair

RANCHI: Two tribal women vegetable sellers from a village in Burmu block, roughly 37 kilometres from Ranchi, were tied to a tree and beaten by villagers on the suspicion of being thieves on Monday evening. Their hair was also chopped off by the irate mob , police said.


Salo Devi (40) and Lalo Devi (37), both sisters, were tied to a tree and beaten by a mob of 150 in Soba village under Thakurgaon police station limits for over 30 minutes before they were rescued by policemen and sent to Burmu's government health centre for medical attention.

The sisters were then taken to Ranchi's Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (Rims) in an ambulance, where they were discharged after minor medical assistance, Thakurgaon police said.

Navin Kumar, the officer-in-charge of Thakurgaon police station, said: "We have lodged an FIR against 19 identified persons and 15 unidentified persons hailing from Soba village. A hunt is on to nab them. Arrests will be made soon."

Salo, a resident of Butru village in Burmu, and Lalo, a resident of Gaghi village under Kanke police station limits, sell vegetables at the Ratu vegetable market outside the state capital every morning.

On September 9, Salo and Lalo were coming to Ratu market from Umaidanda after procuring vegetables for sale when the autorickshaw carrying the duo broke down near Berwari village.

"Salo and Lalo alighted from the tempo and were headed to the home of a relative. Midway, they were intercepted by 15-20 people, who suspected that the two women were thieves. After initial questioning, the group let them head for Ratu road market in a different autorickshaw," Kumar said.

Kumar said some persons travelled to Ratu market later in the day and brought Salo and Lalo to Soba village. "There, they were tied to a tree and beaten. Their hair was chopped off. We reached the village, which is less than four kilometres from our station, in the nick of time and rescued the duo," Kumar added.