Mob tore women’s clothes

Cops terrified of mob

AHMEDABAD: Vadaj police on Wednesday arrested a 25-year-old man and identified 10 others as suspects in connection with the lynching of a woman on Tuesday. Three other women were battered by a furious mob that suspected the group to be a child-lifting gang.Kirti Makwana, alias Tempo, a resident of Vasukinagar in Old Vadaj, has been arrested. Makwana was identified from a video in which he is seen beating the four women at Vadaj Crossroads. A Vadaj police official said that Makwana had been booked earlier in cases of assault and bootlegging.Police inspector of Vadaj J A Rathwa said Makwana has been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 302 (murder), 323 (causing hurt), 143 (unlawful assembly), 335 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt on provocation), and 427 (mischief causing damage).Police may also add IPC section 505(1) against unknown persons who were part of the mob. This section punishes those who intend to cause or are likely to cause fear or alarm among the public, inducing people to commit an offence against the state or against public tranquillity.Sources in Civil hospital said that Shantadevi Nath died of shock and brain haemorrhage. Ashudevi Manchhinath Nath (35), Liladevi Mohannath Nath (60) and Anasi Somnath Nath (40) were injured in the mob attack. These women, slum-dwellers of Meldi Mata Na Chhapra in Sardarnagar, had gone to Vadaj to beg for alms.In one of the videos of the Vadaj mob attack, the women are seen begging people to call the police. Anasi Nath cries out, “Call the police please. Police will decide what to do with us.” The videos show the mob tearing the women’s clothes. However, the police did not include IPC section 354 against the offenders for outraging the modesty of women.When the mob started beating the four women, a traffic cop tried to intervene but sensing the fury of the people, he retreated. The assault occurred on Vadaj Circle from where the Vadaj police chowky is just 300 metres away and the Vadaj police station, hardly a kilometre away. A senior police official said that cops had to save themselves. He said the mob dispersed in 15 minutes.