Two more held for beating specially-abled woman

With the arrest of Aas Mohd (32) and Savitri Devi (45), both residents of Mandoli, on Monday, the Delhi Police have arrested five people for allegedly thrashing a four-month pregnant, deaf & mute woman over suspicion of being a child-lifter in the northeast Delhi.

According to the police, on August 27, a specially-abled woman, 48, was beaten up by a mob on the suspicion of being a child-lifter. The woman's family said her in-laws had thrown her out from their Faridabad home on August 18 and she was missing since then.

She was living on the pavement and fed by locals in Harsh Vihar. But on August 27, they attacked her over rumours of child theft. The family approached the Delhi Police after seeing a video of the incident.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northeast) Atul Kumar Thakur said, a resident of Tughlakabad in southeast Delhi, the woman had been admitted to a hospital by her family and stated to be stable.

A case has been registered against unknown persons for voluntarily causing hurt and wrongful restraint at the Harsh Vihar police station, the DCP said and urged people to not pay heed to such rumours.

The accused, identified as Deepak (27), C Lalit Kumar (29) and B. Shakuntala (52), all resident of Mandoli, were arrested after scrutiny of the CCTV footage, he said.

The incident comes close on the heels of similar mob attacks over the past one week in Uttar Pradesh, leaving many injured and forcing the police to warn that the stringent National Security Act would be invoked against rumour mongers and participants of mob violence.

( With inputs from IANS )