In another incident of horrific mob violence, two sisters, Salo Devi and Balo Devi were mercilessly thrashed and tonsured on allegations of stealing vegetables in a village in Jharkhand. The women had gone to Thakurgaon village from a nearby area to buy vegetables from the market on Sunday, September 8. While returning, they decided to stay at their relative’s place.

The next morning when they were returning home, both sisters were targetted by villagers on the rumour that they had stolen vegetables from the fields. About 200 villagers surrounded them, took them to a nearby village, Soba, tied them to a tree, brutally thrashed them and later even tonsured them.

The police somehow managed the angry villagers and rescued the women safely. “It could have turned into a tragic incident had we not reached the spot in time,” Thakurgaon police station in-charge, Navin Kumar told The Hindustan Times. 

A case was registered on Tuesday, September 10, based on the statements of the victim. An FIR was lodged against 19 people and over a dozen were charged under sections-354 (assault), 307 (attempt to murder), 379 (theft), 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 147 (income escaping assessment) of the Indian Panel Code. 

The sisters were shifted to Burmu health centre and later sent to  Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences. “They were discharged from RIMS and were sent to their homes under police protection,” Kumar said.

Narrating the harrowing experience to the police, the sisters said: “On Sunday morning, we came to Umedanda weekly market in Budmu block to purchase vegetables. On returning in the evening, our hired auto-rickshaw developed some mechanical issue. So we stayed at one of our relatives’ home at Soba village. On Monday morning, we left for Ratu market.”

“As we were busy selling vegetable in the market, more than a dozen people picked us up from Ratu market and brought us to the village. They tied us with a tree and started thrashing, calling us vegetable thieves. They also chopped our braids,” the women said in their complaint.

Reacting to the rumours, a local villager told the police: “In the last few days, two or three instances of vegetable stealing have taken place, so we thought the women were stealing our vegetables.”

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